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Book-J Xl I . r : 






THE SPANIARDS 



THE NEW WORLD. 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 



PAGE 

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA — COLUMBUS IN SIGHT OF 

LAND ..... {Frontispiece), 16^ 

FERDINAND AND ISABELLA RECEIVING COLUMBUS 

{Vignette), 29 -v''!' 

CORTES OUTWITS AND TAKES LEAVE OF VELASQUEZ, CW 

MEETING OF CORTES AND MONTEZUMA, . . 177v' 

DEATH OF MONTEZUMA, . . . . . 219'^ 

INTERVIEW OF PIZARRO AND THE INCA, . . 373 '^ 

TERRIBLE POSITION OF THE SPANIARDS, *. . 423' 

DEATH OF PIZZARO, 466 




Discovery of Amerioa.-Columbus in 



sight of Land. 




Ferdinand and Isabella receiving Colunabus. 



LONDON : 
JAMES BLACKWOOD & CO., Paternoster Row. 



STORIES 

OF THE 

Conquests OF Mexico AND Peru, 

WITH A 

SKETCH OF THE EARLY ADVENTURES 

OF THE 

SPANIARDS IN THE NEW WORLD. 

RE- TOLD FOR YOUTH. 



WILLIAM DALTON, 



AUTHOR OF "the WOLF-BOV OF CHINA," "wiLL ADAMS, THE FIRST ENGLISHMAN 
IN JAPAN," "the white ELEPHANT," ETC. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY GODWIN, 

LONDON: 

JAMES BLACKWOOD & CO., Paternoster Row. 



^-^^^ 



F I2L3 

.D !5 



CONTENTS. 



THE NEW WORLD AND ITS DISCOVERERS. 



CHAPTER I. 



CHAPTER II. 

FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS, . 26 



CORTES AND THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO. 



CHAPTER 1. 

CORTES THE CONQUEROR, 51 

CHAPTER II. 
PRELIMINARY CONQUESTS, 67 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

PAGE 

THE SPANIARDS ON THE CONTINENT ALARM OF 

MONTEZUMA, 86 

CHAPTER IV. 
THE STORY OF ANAHUAC 104 

CHAPTER V. 

CONQUESTS IN THE TIERRA CALIENTE, . .121 

CHAPTER VL 

THE MARCH TO MEXICO, ..... 136 

CHAPTER VII. 
THE MARCH TO MEXICO, ..... 153 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO, . . . . 175 

CHAPTER IX. 

CRITICAL POSITION OF CORTES, . . . .196 

CHAPTER X. 

THE RETREAT FROM MEXICO, . . . .212 

CHAPTER XI. 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MEXICO, . 233 

CHAPTER XII. 
THE SIEGE OF MEXICO, 252 



CONTENTS. VU 

CHAPTER XIII. 

PAGn 

THE SIEGE AND DOWNFALL OF MEXICO, . . 253 

CHAPTER XIV. 

CAPTURE OF GUATEMOZIN AND SURRENDER OP 

MEXICO, 277 

CHAPTER XV. 
SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF CORTES, , . .289 



THE PIZARROSANDTHE CONQUEST OF PERU. 



CHAPTER I. 
PIZARRO AND HIS PARTNERS, .... 393 



CHAPTER II. 



317 



CHAPTER III. 

DISCOVERY OP PERU, ...... 329 

CHAPTER IV. 

FINAL EXPEDITION TO PERU, .... 344 

CHAPTER V. 

THE STORY OF THE INCAS OP PERU, . . .350 



VIU CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

PAGE 

THE MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR, . . .364 

, CHAPTER VII. 
MURDER OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA, . . . 385 

CHAPTER VIIL 

THE March to cuzco, 401 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE SPANIARDS IN CUZCO, ..... 416 

CHAPTER X. 

FEUDS BETWEEN THE ALMAGROS AND THE PIZARROS, 436 

CHAPTER XI. 

LAST DAYS OF THE MARQUIS PIZARRO, . . 454 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE STORY OF THE RISE OF GONZALO PIZARRO, 46S 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE STORY OF THE FALL OF GONZALO PIZARRO, 4S3 



THE NEW WOULD 



ITS DISCOYERERS. 



CHAPTER I. 

HOW A POOR MARINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

Spain is celebrated for the number and antiquity of its 
religions houses; but within a few leagues of the sea- 
port of Palos, in Andalusia, there yet remains one — 
the Franciscan monastery of Santa Maria de Rabida — 
which in historic interest excels them all. It is not 
handsome, in an architectural sense; for it is a low, 
straggling building, with whitewashed walls. Its situa- 
tion is bleak and dreary, being perched upon the brow 
of a rocky hill ; to the east is a great forest of pine trees, 
which darken the entire landscape; still, as towards 
the west it overlooks a wide range of sea, it serves the 
mariner as a beacon. To the student of history it is a 
time mark, — a memento of an epoch in the progress of 
knowledge. Once a prior of that monastery, out of the 
overflowing of his warm heartedness and the fullness 
of his intelligence, volunteered a service to a weary 
traveller, the mighty consequences of which have no 
parallel in history. The name of the good priest was 
Juan Perez de Marchena. 

B 



2 HOW A POOR MARINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

One day, about three hundred and seventy years 
ago, as the prior was passing through the porch, 
his attention was called to two strangers, wayworn 
and wearied, whom the porter was regaling with 
bread and water. They were no ordinary mendi- 
cants, for such callers were too frequent to have 
turned aside the prior from his meditations. One 
was a little boy, the other a tall, powerfully-framed 
man, with fair, freckled skin, bright gray eyes, hair of 
snowy whiteness; but although his apparel was of the 
humblest, if not the shabbiest description, and his age 
must have been at least fifty-five, his demeanour was 
so commanding, and altogether remarkable, that the 
prior, who, from his accent, could tell that he was a 
foreigner, entered into conversation with him. Mar- 
chena had soon gathered the outlines of the wayfarer's 
story. He was one who had ofiered a new world to 
kings and states — a man whose heart and brain were 
bursting with the fullness of an idea that courtiers had 
deemed folly, if not madness. After years of deferred 
hope and profitless negotiations, he was, at the time he 
begged bread and water at the monastery door, on his 
way to a neighbouring town, to seek his brother-in-law, 
with whom he intended leaving his son, while he placed 
before the French king those plans which the sove- 
reigns of Spain and Portugal had refused to adopt. 
Need I tell you — that man was Columbus ! — To under- 
stand, however, how those mighty plans took root and 
became developed in his brain, and how that the good 
prior should have become so deeply interested in them, 
■we must go back some seventy-seven years anterior to 
the day when the subsequently great admiral and dis- 
coverer sought bread and water at the monasteiy. 



EARLY GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE. 3 

In the year 1415, King John of Portugal, having 
driven the Moors from his dominions, pnrsned them to 
the shores of Africa, and making the conquest of Centa 
and other places, he returned to Portugal, leaving the 
subjugated towns under the government of Prince 
Henry, his son, who, it is worth noting, was also the 
nephew of Henry the Fourth of England. Fortunately 
for future ages, the young prince was not only a brave 
knight, but an accomplished scholar — that is, he was 
thoroughly versed in the learning of the period, but 
especially in geographical knowledge and navigation. 
Of these important sciences, however, there was little 
known theoretically, and that only by those who could 
gain access to such eminent writers as Pliny, Pompo- 
nius Mela, and Strabo. Yes, there was one other work 
much studied by those who desired to fathom the won- 
ders of the ocean : it had recently been translated from 
the original into Latin, — it was the geography of 
Ptolemy, the Egyptian, who died in the middle of the 
second century of the Christian era. But even these 
works, althoTigh of value as incentives to the discovery 
of further knowledge, were marvellously incorrect. The 
extent to which geography was practically known may 
be inferred from the following graphic picture by Irving : 

" The navigation of the Atlantic was yet in its 
infancy. Mariners looked with distrust upon a boister- 
ous expanse, which appeared to have no opposite 
shore, and feared to venture out of sight of the land- 
marks. Every bold headland and far- stretching pro- 
montory was a wall to bar their progi-ess. They crept 
timorously along the Barbary shores, and thought they 
had accomplished a wonderful expedition when they 
had ventured a few degrees beyond the Straits of Gib- 



4 HOW A POOR MARINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

raltar. Cape Non was long the limit of tlieir daring; 
they hesitated to double its rocky point, beaten by 
winds and waves, and threatening to thrust them forth 
upon the raging deep. 

" Independent of these vague fears, they had others 
sanctianed by philosophy itself. They still thought 
that the earth at the equator was girdled by a torrid 
zone, over which the sun held his vertical and fiery 
course, separating the hemispheres by a region of impas- 
sive heat. They fancied Cape Bogador the utmost 
boundary of secure enterprise, and had a superstitious 
belief that whoever doubled it would never return. 
They looked with dismay upon the rapid currents of 
its neighbourhood, and the furious surf which beats 
upon its arid coast. They imagined that beyond it lay 
the frightful region of the torrid zone, scorched by a 
blazing sun, — a region of fire, where the very waves 
which beat upon the shores boiled under the intolerable 
fervour of the heavens." 

Such were the terrors that Prince Henry had to 
combat. This he effected by establishing a naval semi- 
nary, wherein all that was then known of navigation, 
geography, and astronomy, was taught. The new 
school aided progress; maps were improved, the com- 
pass came into use, and bringing to bear the informa- 
tion which he had gathered from the Moors while in 
Africa, the prince so schooled and stimulated his 
father's subjects that even during his lifetime the 
Portuguese became celebrated all over Europe for their 
daring and enterprise; and with justice, for they had 
doubled that dreaded Cape Bogador, beyond which it 
had been asserted there were no people, no water, 
no grass — the sea so shallow and the currents so fierce 



VASCO DE GAMA. 5 

that ships having once passed the Cape would never 
return; penetrated into- the i^gion of the tropics, and 
explored the greater part of the African coast, from 
Cape Blanco to Cape de Yerde^ and discovered the 
Cape de Yerde and Azore Islands. 

The gi-eat stimulus, however, to discovery was doubt- 
less a desire to find out a highway to the East — to 
those Indies of which such wonderful stories had been 
told by Marco Polo and other travellei^— those mighty 
empires of Cathay and Zipangu (China and Japan), 
whose houses, it had been said, were roofed with 
shining gold, and whose cities were teeming with un- 
bounded wealth in precious metals, jewels, rich silks^, 
and valuable spices. 

The whole of the lucrative commerce with India was 
at that time in the hands of the Italians, and the 
greater portion of the mei-ehandize was conveyed by 
the Red Sea, thence on the backs of camels to the banks 
of the Nile, and then transported to Egypt, to meet the 
Italian merchants. 

Thus, you see, there was a great motive to discover 
a sea-road direct to these rich countries, but especially 
with the Portuguese; for the Pope had very liberally 
granted their king sovereign authority over all the 
lands his people might discover in the Atlantic. Prince 
Henry was impressed, perhaps, in a greater degree than 
any man of his age with a desire to find this passage ; 
and although it was not until many years after his 
death that Yasco de Gama discovered the route to 
India by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, he lived 
long enough to witness his native country rise, by his 
own means, from one of the. least to one of the most 



6 HOW A POOR MAEINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

important among nations. Indeed, long before his 
death, the Portuguese had become so famous for their 
enterprise and discoveries, that their capital became 
the rendezvous for the learned, the curious, and the 
adventurous, from all countries. It is not to be 
wondered at, therefore, that, about the year 1470, so 
enterprising and able a navigator as the Genoese Chris- 
topher Columbus should find his way to Lisbon. 

There can be no doubt that this visit formed an 
epoch in the life of this great man; for after a short 
time he married the daughter of Pestrello (then dead), 
but who had been the most able and experienced of 
Prince Henry's navigators : thus he came into pos- 
session of all the old sailor's charts, papers, journals, 
and memoranda. Again he obtained employment in 
the navy, and made many voyages to the coast of 
Guinea ; never, you may depend, either going or return- 
ing without adding to his store of maritime knowledge. 
"Necessity," it is said, "is the mother of invention;" 
but certain it is that poverty is most frequently the 
parent of great successes. Thus Columbus, not realiz- 
ing a sufficient income by his occasional voyages, and 
finding it necessary, not only to support his immediate 
family, but also to contribute the means for the support 
of his aged father and the education of some younger 
brothers in Genoa, set manfully to work at the new, or 
rather then all-absorbing science of map-making. 

Now, the construction of a map required an amount 
of geographical knowledge rarely to be found in those 
days. Still, so successful was Columbus in the art, 
that it not only made him distinguished among the 
Portuguese, but gained him the friendship of eminent 



COLUMBUS. 7 

and learned foreigners, whose correspondence helped 
him in his studies; for it must be remembered that 
"whether at home corresponding with his scientific 
friends, listening to the tales of imaginary or real dis- 
coveries of recently returned mariners, or voyaging 
himself, every atom of information bearing upon the 
science which then absorbed his attention was care- 
fully garnered up. 

The elements of a theory were gathering together in 
his mind, and even chance seemed to aid him at every 
step. Thus his wife inherited a property upon the 
recently discovered island of Porto Santo. To this 
Atlantic isle he removed. It was the isle from which 
Madeira had been first discovered; from its shores he 
could meditatively gaze upon the boundless expanse of 
waters, and ponder upon that great continent which 
for more than a century had been believed existed to 
the west. Constantly comparing maps and charts, the 
study of the old geographers, conversations with sailors 
who had taken part in the recent discoveries, corre- 
spondence with the eminent men I have before men- 
tioned, and observations made by himself during his 
voyages to Guinea, all told him that much of the world 
remained iinknown, and, moreover, strengthened his 
belief in the existence of a certain region to the west 
of those mighty waters. 

But the chief motive-spring to discovery and the 
study of geographical science was the longing for a 
new route to India. Prince Henry, upon his death- 
bed, had charged his countrymen to persevere in their 
efforts to find out that route, for it would bring them 
to lands of fabulous riches; moreover, tli?e Pope had 



8 EOW A POOR MARINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

granted all countries tliey might discover, under tlie 
plea that the wealth of the heathen was the fair prey 
of all Christians. Thus stimulated, the world was 
mad to make the discovery. The motive-spring of 
Christopher Columbus was gold, fame, and high rank, 
tinctured with the superstition of his age, that heaven 
would sanction any means, however cruel, which would 
bring converts to the Church of Rome. The riches of 
those countries of which Marco Polo had told such 
wonderful stories would be the fail* spoil of the Chris- 
tian conqueror — such, undoubtedly, was the belief, and 
such the leading motives of Christopher Columbus. 

But where, upon the great ocean, were those rich 
Indies to be found? Several incidents pointed to the 
West; at least so thought Columbus, whose mind could 
alone dwell upon these mines of wealth. One mariner 
had taken from the water, about four hundred and 
fifty leagues to the west of Cape St. Yincent, a piece 
of carved wood, which evidently had not been laboured 
at with an iron instrument, and as the winds had 
drifted it from the west, it was a fair conclusion that 
it had come from some unknown land in that direc- 
tion. A similar piece had been found by the brother- 
in-law of Columbus on the shores of Porto Santo. 
Again, the inhabitants of the Azores had declared that 
not only had the trunks of huge pine trees, of a kind 
that did not grow upon any of the islands, been wafted 
to their shores by the westerly winds, but also the 
bodies of two dead men, whose features differed from 
those of any known race of people. Thinking upon 
these incidents in combination, Columbus came to the 
following conclusions, namely : — That there was land 



THE CONVICTION OF COLUMBUS. 9 

to the west j that it was attainable ; that it was fertile, 
inhabited, and, if not civilized, upon the borders of a 
great civilization ; in fact, that it was the outposts of 
those wonderful countries of Cathay and Zipangu, the 
key to the golden Indies. And in all this he was the 
more thoroughly confirmed by a letter he received from 
the learned Paulo Toscanelli of Florence, maintaining 
the facility of arriving at India by a western course, 
and asserting the distance to be four thousand miles in 
a direct line from Lisbon to the province of Mangi, 
near Cathay. 

This conviction had been arrived at by a slow and 
steady process : it was the result of experience, deep 
thought, and study; and the more he pondered, the 
deeper it sank in his mind, and the firmer he believed 
in its truth. It was henceforth to be the business of 
his life. The whole man swelled with grandeur; he felt 
himself possessed of vast capabilities ; he had found the 
clue to the grandest discovery since the creation; he 
believed he could present the wealth and sovereignty 
of vast empires to any European monarch who would 
enable him to fit out an expedition ; and to the Church, 
of which he was a devout member, he could give 
millions of souls. This was building Chateaux en 
Espagne vfith a vengeance; so, doubtlessly, thought all 
of those with whom he was in frequent communication. 
I can imagine the pity that many of the good people, 
his contemporaries, had for the crazed schemer who 
walked about, like another " Atlas," with a new world 
in his head. But nevertheless, the Genoese was fit to 
be a leader, a teacher of men. There was something 
almost divine in his firm and evident conviction that 



10 HOW A POOR MARINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

he had been sent upon earth for the carrying out of a 
great mission, and the loftiness of soul with which he 
treated with monarchs. He felt himself a sovereign of 
men — as one, in fact, who had at his disposal a new 
world; and thus he negotiated with kings as if with 
equals. 

But years were to elapse before Columbus was to 
start upon the waters in search of new empires. In 
that period there is a lesson to mankind — one of 
especial importance to the young, "Let those," says 
the amiable Washington Irving, " who are disposed to 
faint under difficulties in the prosecution of any worthy 
undertaking, remember that eighteen years elapsed 
after the time that Columbus conceived his enterprise, 
before he was enabled to carry it into effect; that the 
greater part of that time was passed in almost hopeless 
solicitation, amidst poverty, neglect, and taunting ridi- 
cule ; that the prime of his life had wasted away in a 
struggle ; and that when his perseverance was finally 
crowned with success, he was about his fifty-sixth year. 
His example should encourage the enterprising never 
to despair." 

The history of those years of deferred hope may be 
briefly related : — Columbus, it is supposed, made his 
offer first to the chiefs of his native city, Genoa: by 
them he was rejected with contempt. He then carried 
his plans to the King of Portugal. That sovereign 
ordered them to be examined, that examination proving 
to be satisfactory, and the royal Jerry Sneak fearing to 
pay the price demanded by the Genoese, secretly sent 
out one of his ships. Fortunately, however, the plans 
seemed useless without the head that had devised 



COLUMBUS RESOLVES TO SEEK THE COURT OF FRANCE. 1 1 

them; for the pilot of the sneak ship no sooner got 
out of sight of land than, unable to direct his vessel, 
he lost his course, and with difficulty returned to the 
port. A fool's failure caused the king to regard 
Columbus as mad; so the crazed schemer, wiping the 
dust of Portugal from his shoes, sought the court of 
Spain. This country was then under the rule of the 
Jointly reigning sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, 
the then greatest princes in Europe; but these 
monarchs, although deeply anxious to emulate the 
maritime achievements of Portugal, were so deeply 
engaged in their wars with the Moors, and the con- 
quest of Granada, that beyond referring Columbus and 
his schemes to a boa,rd of ministers, they would do 
nothing more than make promises. Pive years were 
thus wasted in dancing attendance upon a court that 
more than half believed in, and longed to grasp the 
promised wealth and empire, yet dreaded the cost. 
At length the great man, wearied, disgusted with the 
continued delay, resolved to quit Spain and seek 
Prance, before whose sovereign he would lay his plans 
and proposals. Fortunately there was one patriotic 
soul in Spain, who feared that his country would lose 
the promised empire ; and in all probability he was the 
indirect means of securing the sovereignty and wealth 
of the New World to Spain. That man was the prior 
of the Franciscan convent in Andalusia, Juan Perez 
de Marchena, he who had been so stricken by the 
appearance of the wanderer who had craved a crust of 
bread and a flagon of water, to help him on his way 
from Spain. 

The Prior Marchena was far beyond the priesthood 



12 HOW A POOR MARINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

of his age in intelligence and liberality; moreover, he 
was deeply interested in all that concerned maritime 
enterprise; for he was a constant visitor to Palos; 
at that time an important seaport, and was well 
acquainted with several of the mariners who had made 
frequent voyages to the newly discovered country upon 
the coast of Africa. Thus, when he had listened to 
the grand plans of his guest, he became so astounded 
at their magnificence, and believed so well in their 
feasibility, that he shuddered at the notion of their 
being offered to the King of France. He had been 
Confessor to Queen Isabella, who still entertained a 
great respect for the holy man; therefore Columbus 
should not take his plans to France — at least not 
without another hearing from the great queen ; before, 
however, setting out for the court, he would take the 
opinions of wiser men than himself upon matters of 
navigation. These were Garcia Fernandez, a physician, 
and Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the head of a family of 
wealth and experience, navigators of Palos, famous for 
their maritime enterprises. 

The good friar had believed in the stranger's schemes, 
and his soul was filled with a holy joy as his fond 
imagination pictured the millions of heathen who were 
to be brought over to the fold of Christ ; still he had 
modestly deferred to Alonzo Pinzon; but when, 
after having brought the latter in communication with 
Columbus, he found the Palos mariner not only had 
full faith in the plans of Columbus, but readily ofiered 
to engage in them in purse, person, and influence, his 
belief became confirmed, and he enthusiastically begged 
Columbus to remain his guest at the convent until h© 



NEGOTIATIONS WITH FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 13 

had written a letter to the queen, and obtained a 
reply. 

Columbus consented; the friar forwarded his letter 
to the great queen, wbo, to the joy of all the anxious 
expectants at the convent, sent a reply, thanking 
him for his timely services, and requesting him to 
come immediately to Santa Fe, leaving Columbus 
behind, in confident hope that he should speedily 
liear from her. Full of joy at this gracious answer, 
the friar saddled his mule, and at midnight privately 
set out for the court. The result of his interview with 
Queen Isabella was a royal command for Columbus to 
repair again to court, where, after much further nego- 
tiation and delay, he prevailed, and articles were 
signed whereby it was agTeed that Columbus should 
I'eceive the hereditary titles of admiral and viceroy in 
all the seas, lands, and islands he should discover. 
He was, moreover, to be entitled to reserve for himself 
one-tenth of all the treasures he might find, and then, 
and at all times, contribute an eighth part of the expense 
in fitting out vessels to sail in this enterprise, and 
receive an eighth part of the profits. 

This latter stipulation he was enabled to carry out 
by means of the friar's friend, Alonzo Pinzon, who, in 
addition to furnishing the money himself, also added a 
third to the two vessels supplied by the government. 
Thus, after a period of eighteen years, chiefly by the 
means of a simple friar and an obscure mariner of 
Palos, was Columbus enabled to perform that voyage 
which gave to his patrons, Ferdinand and Isabella, the 
sovereignty and wealth of a new world, and made his 
own name immortal. 



1 4 HOW A POOR MARINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

But tlie story of that voyage, how often has it been 
told? What a lesson of undying faith in the -ultimate 
success of long and well-matured plans, of steady re- 
solve, unflinching perseverance against all odds and 
difficulties ! Truly it would seem that this great man 
had, as he believed, a special mission for the work. 
First, there were the three ships to be fitted out and 
manned. Prejudice, superstition, ignorance, all stared 
him in the face. Even in the maritime town of Palos 
men were not found forthcoming. The government 
interfered, commanded the people to join in the expe- 
dition; all criminal processes were to be suspended 
against the persons or properties of men who would 
join; but the ships and crew for such a desperate 
service were regarded in the light of sacrifices. The 
voyage across the Atlantic is now a holiday trip, and 
such an every-day occurrence that my young readers 
will find some difficulty in imagining a time when the 
boldest seaman shrank from venturing into the path- 
less tracks of an ocean about which all kinds of fright- 
ful fables were told. 

At length, however, a sufficient number of the ad- 
venturous and the desperate were collected, and the 
three ships being ready for sea, Columbus and his men 
partook of the sacrament of the communion, and, amid 
the sighs, groans, and tears of the people of Palos, the 
admiral and his hundred and nineteen companions set 
sail upon Priday, the 3d of August, 1492, for where- 
none knew — all dreaded. Never before or since has 
so desponding a band of mariners set forth from the 
shores of any land. 

There was but one man who kept undimmed th% 



FIRST VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 15 

flame of liope within his heart. It may be said that 
that single man discovered the New World. But for 
his courage, determination, and superior intelligence, 
the expedition would scarcely have ventured out of 
sight of the Canaries. Many times did the men 
despair, nay, cried like children, when day after day 
they voyaged far to the west, and no land could be 
seen. As often did Columbus try to inspire them with 
hope. Several times the guns were fired. The men 
cheered in the belief that land was in sight, but ever 
with the same result, — heart- sickening disappoint- 
ment, on nearer approach, to find the longed-for land 
had been clouds. About the eighteenth day of the 
voyage the men mutinied. Again Columbus soothed 
them. Birds were seen flying overhead j land must be 
near. Nay, again and again the guns were fired, pro- 
claiming that it had been seen; but alas! they were 
still doomed to disappointment. Land was an ignis 
fatuus, ever to be seen, never to be reached. Again 
came mutiny. Again, partly by persuasion, partly 
by force, Columbils quieted them. Often did his 
officers declare their disbelief in land being to be 
found to the west, and beg of him to change his 
course ; but the commander had declared his opinion, 
and who should change the conviction of such a 
man as Columbus. Throughout the voyage the wind 
had been in his favour, blowing direct to the west. 
This had made the crews frantic ; for it was then blow- 
ing away from Spain ; and while it lasted there was no 
hope of return. At length the wind changed; it was 
in favour of the men, who clamoured to take the oppor- 
tunity of going back to Spain. But Columbus was 



16 HOW A POOR MARINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

not to be moved. The one man stood alone against 
one hundred and nineteen, who regarded him as a 
madman bent upon sacrificing their lives. He must 
have been in mortal danger ; but it mattered not. His 
star was to the west, and to the west he continued his 
course. How clear must have been his intellect, how 
firm his heart, thus to have led a fleet of desperate, 
despairing men against their wills to what they all 
believed certain destruction ! At length, however, the 
one was to be rewarded for his courage, the others for 
their submission. 

About ten o'clock at night of the 10th of October, 
as Columbus was sitting at the stern of his vessel, he 
saw a light, and pointed it out to one Pedro Gutierrez. 
They both called the armourer, but before he came it 
had disappeared. They nevertheless saw it some time 
afterwards. At two o'clock in the morning one of the 
vessels, named the " Pinta," signalled by her guns that 
land was within two leagues ahead. The joy of the 
men is indescribable, and it was with hearts beating 
high with expectancy that they took in sail and lay 
to, impatiently awaiting the dawn. 

" The thoughts and feelings of Columbus," writes 
his biographer, " in this little space of time, must have 
been tumultuous and intense. At length, in spite of 
every difficulty and danger, he had accomplished his 
object. The great mystery of the ocean was revealed; 
his theory, which had been the scofi" of sages, was 
triumphantly established; he had secured to himself 
a glory as durable as the world itself. 

There is an old superstition among mariners, that 
nought but disaster can come of sailing on a Friday; 



TAKING FORMAL POSSESSION OF THE NEW WORLD. 17 

yet Columbus left Spain upon Friday, the 3d day of 
August, and his vision first saw, and his feet first felt 
the shores of the New World upon Friday, the 12th of 
October. At day-break the three vessels, with their 
crews chanting a Te Deum for the success of their 
enterprise, steered for the shore, where they could see 
great numbers of naked savages issuing from the 
woods in all directions, and by their attitude and 
gestures showing their astonishment at the ships. 
Columbus speedily ordered the vessels to cast anchor, 
and the boats to be manned and armed. He then 
entered his own boat richly attired in scarlet, and 
holding the royal standard of Spain; whilst the 
other two commanders, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and 
Yincent his brother, put off in company in their 
own vessels, each with a banner emblazoned with a 
green cross, having on either side the cipher of the 
sovereigns surmounted by crowns. Upon landing 
Columbus threw himself on his knees, kissed the 
earth, and returned thanks to God with tears of joy; 
then rising, he drew his sword, displayed the royal 
standard, and assembling round him the two captains, 
the notary of the armament, and all those who had 
landed, he took solemn possession in the name of the 
Castilian sovereigns, and gave the island the name of 
St. Salvador. Having thus complied with the requi- 
site forms and ceremonies, he called upon all present 
to take the oath of obedience to him, as admiral and 
viceroy, representing the persons of Ferdinand and 
Isabella, all to the great wonderment of the natives, 
who seemed, as well they might be, lost in amazement. 
Thus did the Spaniards make their first footing in 
c 



18 HOW A POOR MARINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

the New World, in an island, as Columbus supposed, 
of the Indies — one of those described by Marco Polo 
as lying opposite Cathay in the Chinese Sea; and in 
this supposition he was confirmed; for, observing that 
the natives wore golden ornaments about their persons, 
and asking them from whence the metal had been 
procured, they made signs to him, pointing to the 
south, where, he then understood them, dwelt a king 
of such wealth that he was served in vessels of 
wrought gold. He also made out that there was land 
to the south, the south-west, and the north-west, and 
that the people from the last-mentioned quarter 
frequently proceeded to the south-west in quest of 
gold and precious stones, making in their way descents 
upon the islands, and carrying off their inhabitants. 

To the imagination of the admiral, who had ever 
the writings of Marco Polo in his mind, the enemies 
of which the natives spoke as coming from the north- 
west, could be no other than the people of the main- 
land of Asia, the subjects of the great Khan of 
Tartary, who were represented by the Venetian 
writer as accustomed to make war upon the islands, 
and to enslave their inhabitants. The country to the 
south, abounding in gold, must be the famous island 
of Zipangu, and the king who was served out 
of vessels of gold, the potentate whose palace had 
been described by Polo as covered with plates of the 
same metal. Thus did the news he received please 
him better than the discovery of an island of savages ; 
for he did indeed believe he had arrived at the 
gorgeous Indies — a belief, by the way, in which he 
died. Thus he gave the name of Indians to the 



WHY THE NATIVES WERE CALLED INDIANS. 19 

people of all the islands in the west, a name by which 
they have ever since been known. 

The sight of those golden ornaments, which the 
simple natives readily parted with for glass beads and 
other trumpery trinkets, the news of the rich countries 
to be found in those latitudes, aroused the cupidity of 
the avaricious Spaniards; so, leaving St. Salvador, they 
set out in search of gold ; but neither during that expe- 
dition or in any of his others did Columbus succeed. 
He had crossed the terrible ocean, he had hewn out the 
pathway, he had found out the clue, but it was left for 
others to discover the great and golden empires of 
Mexico and Peru, the rich countries doubtlessly indi- 
cated by the savages, and which he had mistaken for 
China and Japan. Sufficient, however, for the glory 
of this great man in the search for countries of gold, he 
discovered during that voyage St. Salvador, the islands 
of Ferdinand and Isabella, Cuba, which he once believed 
to be a continent, Hispaniola or St. Domingo, the pre- 
sent Hayti. Upon this last island Columbus erected 
a fort called La Navidad, and left there thirty men 
under the command of an officer named Diego d' Arena. 

Thus have I given an outline of the first and most 
important voyage of Columbus. In August, 1492? 
he had left the Port of Palos with a despairing crew, 
amid the groans and almost execrations of the people. 
Upon the 15th of March, 1493, just seven months 
afterwards, the admiral was received at Palos as a hero, 
as indeed he was ; the bells rang, and the magistrates, 
accompanied by all the respectable inhabitants, came 
down to the shore to receive him on landing, and were 
untiring in their congratulations upon his having 



20 HOW A POOK MAEINEH BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

achieved tliat wliicb. all the world had believed to be im- 
possible. He made a public entry into Barcelona ; the 
whole city came out to meet him in procession. He 
walked in the midst of several Indians whom he had 
brought with him, and who were decked out in the 
fashion of their country. The fragments of gold and 
rarities which he had collected were carried before him 
in open baskets. In this way he proceeded through 
immense crowds to the palace. Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella were seated on their throne awaiting his arrival : 
as soon as he appeared with his train, they arose. 
Columbus threw himself upon his knees; but they 
commanded him to be seated in their presence — an 
honour only awarded to the highest nobility. The 
admiral then having given a modest account of his 
voyage, Ferdinand, who had been but lukewarm in sup- 
porting tliQ expedition, was so delighted at its success 
that he confirmed Columbus in all his privileges, and 
permitted liim to join the arms of his own family, those 
of Castile and Leon, with the emblems of his discov- 
eries, and of the dignities resulting from them. 

Such are the main facts of the first voyage of Colum- 
bus, which gave ultimately so many colonies to Spain. Of 
his other voyages I can only indicate the results as they 
are likely to bear upon, and lead up to the discoveries 
and conquests of Mexico and Peru. Those of my 
young readers who would really desire to know more 
of the life of this great man, and the ingratitude with 
which his services were ultimately met, I earnestly 
recommend to peruse the pages of Washington Irving's 
Biograjyhy. 

The story of the discovery of the New World by 



SECOND VOYAGE, 21 

Columbus made Europe ring with apj^lause. MonarcLs 
envied the sovereigns of Castile j adventurers of all 
nations desired to emulate the hero of the hour; but in 
Spain maritime discovery became the mania ; so when 
it was known that the admiral was fitting out another 
expedition for the ISTew World, the highest, the youngest, 
and the bravest in the land, craved permission to join 
him at their own expense. Thus the armament for 
the second voyage consisted of seventeen vessels and 
about fifteen hundred men. 

The outward passage was prosperous; for, steering 
more to the south than in the first expedition, Colum- 
bus fell in with the Carribee Islands, the inhabitants of 
which they found to be wild and warlike, and, to their 
horror, cannibals. Here, in Guadaloupe, so called by 
the admiral, they first met with the anana, or delicious 
pine-apple. Having named and taken possession of 
these islands for the sovereigns of Spain, the fleet sailed 
for Hispaniola. Upon his arrival at the latter island, 
where he had previously erected a fort and established a 
garrison of thirty men, he found that dviring his absence 
the fort (Navidad) had been reduced to ashes, and the 
men slain by Gaonabo, the cacique or chief of a neigh- 
bouring tribe. This disaster, it appeared, the colonists 
had brought upon themselves by their cruelty to the 
Indians. The admiral, however, speedily built another 
fort upon a mountain called Cibao, and founding once 
more a colony, left it under the governorshij) of his 
brother, Diego. After this Columbus revisited the 
coast of Cuba, in the hope of discovering the gold 
regions of which the natives had told him in his former 
voyage. In this he was disappointed ; but, pursuing 



22 HOW A POOR MARINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

his course, he fell in with the beautiful and fertile 
island of Jamaica, where he made another search for 
gold ; but again failing, he continued to steer towards 
the west ; and falling in with a cluster of islands, and 
having no doubt that they were those mentioned by 
Marco Polo (for, remember, the stories of that traveller 
for ever haunted his imagination), he determined still 
to keep to the west, hojDing that by so doing he might 
succeed in circumnavigating the globe, and return to 
Europe by the route lately discovered round Africa by 
Yasco de Gama. 

The ships, however, had become so battered, and the 
crews so exhausted by the difficult navigation he had 
been pursuing, that Columbus was obliged for the pre- 
sent to forego his project before returning; therefore 
he compelled every man on board the fleet to sign a 
paper expressive of his b&lief that Cuba was a conti- 
nent, and a part of India; and in this conviction, as 
I have heretofore stated, he died. Yet, could they 
have held out for three days longer, the truth would 
have been revealed. 

The 30th of May, 1498, Columbus set sail upon his 
third voyage. This time he steered still farther to the 
south, until he came within five degrees of the equator; 
and on the last day of July, descrying three peaks, 
which, upon a nearer approach, he found to be united 
at the base, he named it Trinidad. Sailing to the south 
and west of this island, and entering the great Gulf of 
Paria, he saw land extending to the south as far as the 
eye could reach. He first thought it to be a great 
island; but the sudden swell of the sea within the 
gulf, and the rapid current running through it towards 



THE THIRD VOYAGE. 23 

tlie north, soon led him to the conclusion that these 
phenomena could only arise from some great river, 
having its source in high mountains. There could now 
be no doubt that he had discovered a large continent. 
That river was the Orinoco, the land, Terra Firma, 
or South America; and upon that discovery is based 
his claims to have been the discoverer of America. 
This was a great achievement, and with a proud heart 
he bent his sails to Hispaniola. But there he found 
the colony in sad confusion, and to the remedying of 
this his energetic mind was set to work. But you 
all know the world-wide story, — Columbus had enemies 
in Spain. A new governor was sent out to Hispaniola, 
and Columbus, being accused of mal-administration, 
returned to Spain a captive in chains. 

Upon his arrival the popular feeling was so intense 
at the indignities offered to so great a man, that the 
sovereign was compelled to examine into the charges 
against him. The result was his full acquittal and 
restoration to court favour. 

While Columbus had been making Spain famous 
for her new acquisitions, Vasco de Gama had discovered 
for the rival nation, Portugal, the route to the long 
sought for golden Indies, by the Cape of Good Hope. 
Upon the return of the admiral he found all Spain 
talking about it, and envious of De Gama, he at once 
offered to conduct a fleet to the Indies by a much 
shorter route. You remember that when he made the 
crews sign the paper off Cuba it was his conviction 
that if fate had allowed him to have pursued his 
course he would have speedily fallen in with the 
much desired golden lands. He must have brought 



24 HOW A POOR MARINER BECAME A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

the sovereigns to the same conviction, or otherwise, 
notwithstanding thej had restored him to their favour, 
they would scarcely have given him the command of 
another fleet, and for these simple but ungrateful 
reasons, — that although they had granted him, on the 
setting out u^Don his first voyage, great rank and 
vice-regal power, contingently upon his finding out 
certain lands, his discoveries had been so vast, the 
wealth promised to be forthcoming so immense, that 
the politic Ferdinand deemed it too much power to 
remain in the hands of a subject; for in those days 
great subjects not unfrequently changed themselves 
into powerful and independent sovereigns. Moreover, 
now that Columbus had penetrated the mysteries of 
that vast ocean, and had three times led fleets across 
successfully, the path was safe and certain, and lesser 
men at lesser prices could colonize what he had found, 
if not still pursue the path to greater discoveries. 
In princes such chicanery is called policy. In humble 
individuals it would be called swindling. 

This fourth and last voyage, although disastrous 
in the extreme, and attended with no good result, 
was very nearly bringing the admiral to one of those 
golden empires he had so long sought. Steering from 
Cuba to the south-west, he reached Guanaga, on the 
coast of Honduras. Here he saw among the natives 
proofs of a higher civilization than had yet been found 
among the natives of the New World. They possessed 
vessels of copper, and wore ornaments curiously worked 
and dyed with a variety of colours, copper-headed 
hatchets, copper bells, and other articles of the same 
metal, together vdth a kind of crucible in which to 



THE FOURTH AND LAST VOYAGE. 25 

melt it. Moreover, a boat party of these natives, 
who fearlessly visited the admiral's ship, informed 
him, by means of an interpreter, that they had jtist 
arrived from a country, rich, cultivated, and industri- 
ous, so urged him to steer to the west. Had Columbus 
acted upon their advice, within a day or two he would 
have arrived at Yucatan, " When," says his biographer, 
"the discovery of Mexico and other opulent countries 
of New Spain would have necessarily followed; the 
Southern Ocean would have been disclosed to him, 
and a succession of splendid discoveries would have 
shed fresh glory on his declining age, instead of its 
sinking amidst gloom, neglect, and disappointment." 
Columbus, however, thought of nothing but the Indies, 
the Spice Islands, Cathay, and Zipangu, and he sought 
for a strait which he believed would lead to them; 
but adverse winds came, shipwreck, discontent among 
the crews, ill health to himself, and he was compelled 
to sail for St. Domingo, from whence he returned to 
Spain, to die in extreme poverty, albeit it may be 
said that his descendants obtained the wealth that 
should have been awarded to their great ancestor. 



2Q 



CHAPTER II. 



FOLLOWSRS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

Although other and higlier motives filled the heart 
of Columbus, that the love of gold and desire for 
power stimulated his genius for maritime adventure 
and discovery, there can be little doubt. That great 
man, however, having hewn out the ocean pathway to 
an imaginary El Dorado — and thus sown in the minds 
of his countrymen notions of the wealth to be obtained 
by a voyage across the Atlantic — as from the teeth of 
Cadmus, there suddenly sprang up thousands of 
armed men, prepared to explore the newly found 
lands and seas, to share the spoils and, if possible, to 
extend the discoveries. In this desire they were 
stimulated by the jealousy of Ferdinand and Isabella, 
who, fearing that Portugal or England might be soon 
encroaching upon their new sovereignty, with the 
boundless liberality of those who give that which 
costs them nothing, they offered provinces to those 
who would be at the cost and trouble of discovering 
and colonizing new lands. 

The name of the leaders only of these maritime 
expeditions is legion; but so rich is every one of these 
voyages with wild adventure, that it is with pain I 
remember that I am writing merely an introductory 



ALONZO DE OJEDA. 27 

chapter, and must content myself with mention of 
those only who were especially celebrated for the part 
they took in the opening up of the New World after 
Columbus had led them to its portals. 

Among the earliest, most daring, chivalrous, and 
unfortunate of these, was the noble Alonzo de Ojeda. 
This cavalier had accompanied the admiral upon his 
second voyage, and while at Hispaniola, had performed 
feats of valour that rendered his name famous at the 
court of Spain ; therefore, when the news arrived that 
Columbus, then upon his tliird voyage, had discovered 
the coast of Paria, which abounded in drugs, spices, 
gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls, Ojeda readily 
obtained the royal permission to fit out an armament 
for the exploration of those seas. The result of this 
voyage was a sad disappointment to the avaricious 
wealth-seekers j for after an absence of twelve 
months they returned to Cadiz with but five hundred 
ducats to be divided between fifty-five, and had, 
moreover, the mortification to find that a petty 
armament which had sailed some time previously 
under one Pedro Nino, had returned two months 
before them with a rich cargo of pearls, which they 
had obtained from the savages in exchange for glass 
beads. 

The first voyage of Alonzo de Ojeda is, however, 
especially noteworthy here, inasmuch as he was ac- 
companied by a man who, by affixing his name to the 
New World, has surreptitioiisly obtained a share of 
that fame which was wholly and solely due to 
Columbus. That man was Amerigo Yespucci, a 
Florentine of learning and talents; and this is an 



28 FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

outline of liis history, and how it clianced that his 
name is now floating upon immortality. 

About the year 1495 he was agent or partner of 
Berardi, a wealthy Florentine merchant established 
at Seville, and who, being a great friend of Columbus, 
was usually commissioned by the government to equip 
the armaments destined for Hispaniola, and, as we 
have seen, he accompanied Ojeda. After his return in 
1500 till 1505 he was engaged in the service of the 
King of Portugal, making voyages to the East Indies 
or the coast of Brazil. Leaving the Portuguese ser- 
vice he returned to Spain, where his reputation 
as a mariner, a cosmographer, a man of great com- 
mercial knowledge, steady, persevering habits, and, 
moreover, his having come over from a rival coiirt, 
obtained for him not only a welcome reception, but, 
upon the death of Columbus, the post of Chief Pilot 
of Spain. 

Notwithstanding this appointment, Vespucci, it 
seems, never afterwards performed any enterprise of 
consequence; but in 1507 the account which he had 
written of his four voyages was already printed in 
Latin, having been previously translated from the 
original Italian into French and Spanish. In this he 
lays claim to having discovered Terra Firma, the con- 
tinent or mainland of South America. In the same 
year, namely, 1507, there appeared, prefixed to his 
voyages, a treatise on cosmograj)hy. The writer of that 
work remarks, " that the new continent ought to be 
called America, from its discoverer, Americus, a man 
of rare ability, inasmuch as Europe and Asia derived 
their names from women." " Thus it appears," says the 



THE REAL DISCO VEEER OP THE NEW WORLD. 29 

author of maritime and inland discovery, "that the 
New World has silently and irrevocably assumed that 
general denomination which first appeared in print. 
Popular fables and the enthusiastic dreams of Colum- 
bus took from him a portion of his glory. He fancied 
that he had reached the Indies, and would have felt 
sorry, perhaps, to relinquish that favourite idea for 
the honour of assuming the rich blazonry of fame to 
which he was truly entitled, and of giving his name to 
a new quarter of the world." 

Many and warm were the disputations between the 
learned, after the appearance of this work of Yespucci, 
as to the real discoverer of the great continent. The 
question, however, was set at rest during the great 
trial, when the heir of Columbus sought to obtain the 
lights, titles, and privileges of the great admiral. His 
claims were disputed on the ground that his father 
was not the original discoverer of Terra Firma, but 
only subsequently of certain portions of it. The young 
admiral's rights were, however, completely and satis- 
factorily proved by one hundred and nine witnesses, 
among whom were the comj)anions of Columbus, the 
most distino'uished navio-ators of the age. 

a o o 

That Columbus was the discoverer of the continent 
there is no doubt j but even so, it is a question more 
of curiosity than of real moment ; for justly remarks 
Irving, — "When Columbus first touched a shore of the 
New World, even though a frontier island, he had 
acliieved his enterprise ; he had accomplished all that 
was necessary to his fame: the great problem of the 
ocean was solved ; the world beyond its western waters 
was discovered." 



30 FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

You will remember that Martin Alonzo Pinzon and 
"Vincente Yanez Pinzon, two brothers of Palos, were 
tlie commanders who accompanied Columbus in his 
first voyage. Well, when the news arrived at Palos that 
the great admiral had- discovered the continent, 
Yincente, the surviving brother, in 1499, sailed from 
that port with a fleet of four vessels. Persisting in his 
course to the south-west, he fell in with land in eight 
degrees of south latitude, of which he took formal pos- 
session in the name of the sovereign, and called it 
Santa Marie de la Consolacion ; thus Pinzon was the 
first European who crossed the line in the western seas. 
Continuing his voyage, he became the discoverer of 
Santa Cruz, now known as the empire of Brazil, 
although the honour is claimed by one Pedro Alvarez 
Cabral, a Portuguese. The latter, however, did not 
arrive at these shores till three months after Pinzon 
departed from the coast. 

In 1508 Pinzon and another celebrated mariner, 
Juan Diaz de Solis, set sail for the purpose of exploring 
the western shores of South America; but little good, 
however, resulted from this voyage; for the two com- 
manders quarrelling, they returned to Spain to settle 
their dispute. The latter being deemed in the wrong, 
was imprisoned; but Amerigo Yespucci dying, the 
prisoner was released, and appointed to the post of 
chief pilot. In this capacity Solis was despatched to 
navigate the southern side of the Isthmus of Darien, 
where another sea chief, Yasco Nunez de Balboa, had 
recently made the great discovery of the Pacific Ocean. 
The result of this expedition, however, was most 
disastrous; for upon arriving at the mouth of the river 



ADVENTURES OF OJEDA. 31 

Plate, Solis with a small party went ashore to examine 
the soil and natural productions. The admiral had 
not advanced far into the land before he and five of his 
companions were seized by the natives, who killed, 
roasted, and devoured them ; and by this tragical end 
was Solis, in all probability, deprived of the glory of 
having circumnavigated South America. 

We must now for a short time return to that gallant 
but mad-headed cavalier, Don Alonzo de Ojeda. This 
extraordinary man had made a second voyage for the 
purpose of establishing a colony in a province assigned 
to him in the Gulf of Maracaibo. Quarrelling, how- 
ever, with his followers, the latter loaded him with 
chains before they landed; but Ojeda, confident in his 
power of swimming, shackled as he was, let himself 
down into the sea, where he would have been drowned 
but for his men, who rescued him from the water. 
They afterwards took him ashore, and charged him 
before the governor with attempting to defraud them 
of the strong box which contained their mutual 
wealth. Tho governor ordered accusers and accused to 
be tried before the chief judge of the island of His- 
paniola : the result was a verdict against Ojeda. This 
judgment, however, was afterwards reversed by the 
court of Spain. 

In 1509 the wild and Quixotic Ojeda, through his 
court interest, obtained a royal grant of immense terri- 
tories, to form a colony on the northern coast of South 
America, that is, between the middle of the Gulf of 
Darien and Cape Yela. At the same time a wealthy 
gentleman, Diego de Nicuessa, obtained a similar grant 
of the country from Cape Vela to Cape Gracias a Dios. 



32 FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

Now, between tliese rival cliiefs, and subsequently 
neighbouring governors, there arose a fierce hatred, 
especially upon the part of Ojeda. Their fates, however, 
were to be similar. On reaching the shores of Cartha- 
gena, Ojeda began by exhorting the Indians to embrace 
the doctrines of Christianity; for with the Spaniards 
in the ISTew World conversion of the natives was ever 
the first object, even before gold; but the savages, who 
had already suffered from the cruelties of white men, 
were not to be won by apparent kindness. They there- 
fore fell upon the party, and, notwithstanding the 
firearms of the Spaniards, destroyed about seventy. 
Ojeda alone saved himself by a rapid flight into a 
thicket of mangrove trees on the margin of the sea, 
where, some days after, a party from the ship, coming 
ashore to look after their missing companions, found 
him lying in the matted roots of the mangroves, his 
buckler on his shoulder and his sword in his hand, but 
so wasted with hunger and fatigue that he was speech- 
less. The men bore their commander to the shore, 
lighted a fire, and, while they were endeavouring to 
revive him, a squadron of ships stood towards the 
harbour. Then occurred one of those incidents which 
serve to enliven and soften the fierce and bloody story 
of the Spaniards in the New World. The fleet was 
that commanded by Nicuessa, the hated rival of Ojeda; 
and the latter, remembering that he had defied to 
mortal combat Nicuessa, became troubled in his 
mind at the idea of meeting him. He therefore 
ordered his men to return on board the ship and leave 
him on shore, but not to reveal to Nicuessa the place 
cf his retreat. As the newly arrived fleet entered the 



CHIVALROUS CONDUCT OF NICUESSA. 53 

harbour the first inquiry of Nicuessa was after Ojeda. 
The men mournfully replied that their commander had 
gone on a warlike expedition into the country; but as 
days had elapsed since his departure, they feared some 
misfortune had happened fo him, and they entreated 
Nicuessa to give his word as a cavalier that should 
Ojeda be in trouble he would not take advantage 
of his misfortunes to revenge himself for their 
late dispute. " Seek your commander instantly," re- 
plied the chivali^ous Spaniard, indignant at such a 
request, " bring him to me, if he be alive, and I 
pledge myself not merely to forget the past, but 
to aid him as if he were a brother." The men 
fetched Ojeda, and Nicuessa received him lovingly, 
saying, " It is not for Hidalgos, like men of vulgar 
souls, to remember differences when they behold 
another in distress; henceforth let all that has 
occurred between us be forgotten. Command me as a 
brother; myself and my men are at your orders to 
follow you whei-ever you please, imtil the deaths of 
Juan de la Cosa and his comrades are revenged." 
This Juan de la Cosa was one of the ablest navi- 
gators of the age, who had fallen in the late onset of 
the savages. 

Ojeda having recovered, and being thus reinforced, 
took fearful revenge upon the natives. " The village," 
says Irving, " was buried in deep sleep ; but the woods 
were filled with large parrots, which, being awakened, 
made a prodigious clamour. The Indians, however, 
thinking the Spaniards all destroyed, paid no attention 
to these noises. It was not until their homes were 
assailed and wrapped in flames that they took the alarm. 



oi FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

They rushed forth, some with arms, some weaponless, 
but were received at their doors by the exasperated 
Spaniards, and either slain on the spot or driven back 
into the fire. Women fled wildly forth with children 
in their arms, bnt, at the sight of the Spaniards glit- 
tering in Gteel, and of the horses, which they supposed 
to be ravenous monsters, ran back, shrieking with 
horror, into their burning habitations." It was a 
terrible carnage; for quarter was given neither to sex 
nor age. 

Having glutted their vengeance, the commanders 
separated; Nicuessa to continue his voyage to Veragua, 
Ojeda to establish his colony in some other spot, 
where his people might be out of the way of the 
empoisoned arrows of the Indians. He fixed upon 
a spot on a height near the Gulf of Uraba, where 
his followers speedily erected a town and a fortress, 
which they called San Sebastian. This attempt, how- 
ever, was a signal failure ; for the natives attacked the 
colonists so fiercely, and so frequent and sanguinary 
became the contests, that, what with the poisoned shafts 
and the want of food, every man would have died a 
miserable death but for the arrival of a pirate ship, 
which carried the wretched remnant to San Domingo, 
where, not long after, Ojeda died broken-spirited, and 
so poor that the whole of his property was insufficient 
to pay the expenses of his funeraL 

Several stories are told illustrative of the character 
of this extraordinary man. The earliest is told by 
Mr. Helps, the historian of the Spanish Conquest, 
on the authority of Navarete, and refers to a time 
■when, living at Hispaniola in the infant days of their 



STORIES OF OJEDA. 35 

colony, under the governorsliip of Diego Columbus, lie 
succeeded m capturing Caonabo, that warlike cacique 
who had burned the fort of ISTavidad, and slain or 
dispersed its garrison. The cacique being one of the 
most determined of the enemies of the Spaniards, 
Diego Columbus resolved to get him into his power 
either by foul or fair means. Ojeda undertook the 
dangerous office : he was to pretend that he had a 
friendly message for the cacique from the governor 
Diego — a ruse that succeeded; for he was admitted 
at once into the presence of the Indian chief. Now, 
Ojeda took with him gyves and manacles made of 
brass or steel, beautifully wrought and highly polished; 
for the metals of Spain were as much prized by the 
Indians as the gold of the latter was esteemed by the 
Spaniards. Moreover, there was a rumour among the 
natives of talking brass. This arose from their listening 
to the church bells, which, summoning the Spaniards to 
mass, was believed by the simple natives to converse 
with them. Indeed, the inhabitants of Hispaniola 
held the Spanish metals in such estimation that they 
applied to them an Indian word, turey, which seems 
to have signified anything that descends from heaven. 

"When, therefore, Ojeda brought these ornaments to 
Caonabo, and told him they were Biscayan tureys — a 
great present from the admiral — and that he would 
show him how to put them on; and that when they 
were put on Caonabo should set himself on Ojeda's 
horse and be shown to his admiring subjects, as, Ojeda 
said, the kings of Spain were wont to show themselves 
to theirs ; the incautious Indian is said to have fallen 
entirely into the trap. Going with Ojeda, accom- 



36 FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

panied by only a small escort, to a river a short dis- 
tance from his main encampment, Caonabo, after per- 
forming ablutions, suffered the crafty young Spaniard 
to put the heaven-descended fetters on him, and to set 
him upon the horse. Ojeda himself got up behind the 
Indian prince, and then whirling a few times round, 
like a pigeon before it takes its determined flight? 
making the followers of Caonabo imagine that this 
was but display, they all the while keeping at a 
respectful distance from the horse, an animal they 
much dreaded, Ojeda darted off for Isabella; and 
after great fatigues, now keeping to the main track, 
now traversing the woods in order to evade pursuit, 
brought Caonabo bound into the presence of Colum- 
bus. The unfortunate cacique was sent to Spain to 
be judged there ; and his forces were afterwards put to 
flight by a troop of Spaniards under the command of 
Ojeda. Some were killed, some taken prisoners, some 
fled to the forests and the mountains, some yielded, 
"offering themselves to the service of the Christians 
if the}"" would allow them to live in their own ways." 

In one of the contests with the natives Ojeda 
received a poisoned arrow, and having witnessed the 
horrible agonies in which many of his men had died 
from the same cause, a remedy occurred to him. This 
was to have two plates of iron made red-hot, and 
placed to the orifice of the wound; but the surgeon 
refused to apply them, declaring . that he would not 
be the murderer of his general. Upon this Ojeda 
made a solemn vow that he would hang him unless 
he obeyed. To avoid such a fate the surgeon com- 
plied, and Ojeda, without being tied down or held 



STORIES OP OJEDA — FATE OF NICUESSA. 37 

during the friglitful operation, bore it without shrink- 
ing or uttering a murmur, although it so inflamed 
his whole system that his people had to wrap him 
in sheets steeped in vinegar, a whole barrel of which, 
it is said, was exhausted in allaying the heat. 

The fate of the generous Nicuessa and his expedition 
was still more terrible; for although, after a series of 
incredible adventures, he found a spot at Darien, 
upon which he determined to settle and build a 
fortress, which he named ISTombre de Dios, upon 
landing, he found that out of seven hundred fine 
fellows who had manned his noble squadron, six 
hundred had fallen a prey either to shipwreck, mutiny, 
or disease, by the hands of savages, or by famine. 
In fact, upon one island where they had been cast, 
so great had been the want of food, that thirty of 
the Spaniards, finding the body of a dead Indian, 
were driven by their hunger to devour it; but so 
infected with disease were they by the horrible repast 
that not one of them survived. 

There was a colony settled at Darien, who, hearing 
of the wretched state of Mcuessa and his men at 
Nombre de Dios, invited him to become their governor. 
The unfortunate chief regarding this invitation as a 
special boon sent from heaven, set sail ; but upon their 
arrival at Darien, although permitted to land, there 
was a party so strong against him that he was com- 
pelled to re-embark in an old brigantine unfit for 
sea. This he did with the remainder of his attached 
followers upon the 1st of March, 1511. The bark 
steered across the Caribbean Sea for Hispaniola; but 
from that day nothing was ever heard of the courtly, 



38 FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

the chivalrous Nicuessa, or his crew. Thus, either by 
shipwreck or savages, must have perished the last 
remnant of seven hundred brave men, who sacrificed 
themselves for the love of gold. 

This colony of Darien, from which the unfortunate 
Nicuessa had been driven, was governed by Yasco 
Nunez de Balboa, one of the bravest and most enter- 
prising of all the New World adventurers. Balboa 
feeling some sympathy for the fate of Nicuessa, sent 
two ships to Nombre de Dios to bring over any of 
the poor fellows whom Nicuessa might have left there. 
In making the voyage, the ships found upon the shore 
of the isthmus two Spaniards clad in painted skins. 
The names of these men should have been known, 
and held up to the execration of mankind for their 
ingratitude. They had been followers of Nicuessa, and 
to escape some well-deserved punishment, had fled to 
the territories of a native chief named Careta, who 
for nearly a year and a-half had treated them with 
the greatest kindness and hospitality. The return 
they made was to request their countrymen to invade 
the old chief's territories, where they would find 
considerable booty. 

This intelligence being carried to Balboa, that chief, 
delighted, sent for the two men. The traitors told him 
of the secret hoards of provisions possessed by their 
kind old host, and advised him to enter the village 
when its inhabitants were sleeping. Balboa adopted 
the plan, and in the dead of night fell upon the 
Indians, made the chief and his family captives, 
hurried the provisions on board two ships, and returned 
to Darien. 



VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA. 39 

When the okl chief saw his family in chains before 
Balboa, he cried, despairingly, "What have I done 
that thou shonldest treat me thus cruelly? None 
of thy people ever came to my land that were not fed, 
sheltered, and treated with lovingkindness ; when thou 
camest to my dwelling did I meet thee with javelin in 
hand? Did I not set meat and drink before thee, 
and welcome thee as a brother? Set me free, therefore, 
with my family and people, and we will remain thy 
friends. We will supply thee with provisions, and 
reveal to thee the riches of the land. Dost thou 
doubt my faith? Behold my daughter, I give her 
to thee as a pledge of friendship. Take her for thy 
wife, and be assured of the fidelity of her family 
and people." 

Balboa relented; the chief and his family were freed. 
Had the words of the old man touched his heart ? ISTo; 
I fear not. But a politic thought passed through hia 
brain. He would make a friend of this chief, and 
offered to help him against his enemies. And from 
this policy resulted the greatest discovery in the New 
World after those of Columbus. 

The chief had a great enemy, one Ponca; Balboa 
therefore returned with his new ally, and very speedily 
overran the domains of Ponca, sacking his villages, 
from which he obtained considerable booty. Balboa 
was then introduced by Careta to an adjacent province 
called Comagre, which was ruled over by a chief of 
gi*eat power and wealth. This province of Comagre 
was situated at the foot of a lofty mountain. As the 
Spaniards appeared, the chief, his principal warriors, 
and sons, came forward to meet thtm. Balboa and 



40 FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

his companions were surprised at the apparent grandeur 
and wealth of this savage village ; but how great was 
their astonishment and delight when the eldest son of 
the chief presented them with 4,000 ounces of gold, 
wrought into various ornaments, together with sixty 
slaves ! This booty Balboa ordered to be distributed 
after the following order : — One fifth of the gold to be 
weighed out and set apart for the sovereign of Castile, 
and the rest to be shared among his followers. 

" The son of the chief who gave them this present 
was a man of suj)erior intelligence aiid sagacity, and 
seeing the Spaniards quarrelling violently among them- 
selves about the size and value of the pieces which fell 
to their respective shares, he disdainfully struck the 
scales, so that the glittering metal fell amongst them, 
saying :— 

" Why should you quan-el for such a trifle 1 If this 
gold is indeed so precious in your eyes that for it alone 
you abandon your homes, invade the peaceful lands of 
others, and expose yourselves to such sufferings and 
perils, I will tell you of a region where you may 
gratify your wishes to the utmost. Behold those lofty 
mountains," he continued, pointing to the south; 
" beyond these lies a mighty sea, which may be discerned 
from their summit. It is navigated by people who 
have vessels almost as large as j^ours, and furnished, 
like them, with sails and oars. All the streams that 
flow down the southern side of those mountains into 
that sea abound in gold, and the kings who reign 
upon its borders eat and drink out of golden vessels. 
Gold, in fact, is as plentiful and common among those 
people of the south as iron is among you Spaniards." 



BALBOA FIEST HEARS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 41 

Can my young readers understand tlie wild excite- 
ment with wliicli the Spanish adventurers heard this 
news ? For them, then, had Providence reserved it to 
find that sea which Columbus had sought, and the 
golden Indies of which that great man had dreamed. 

" Such," says Irving, " was the first intimation 
received by Balboa of the Pacific Ocean and its golden 
realms, and it had an immediate efiect upon his whole 
character and conduct. This hitherto desperate and 
wandering man had now an enterprise opened to his 
ambition, which, if accomplished, would elevate him to 
fame and fortune, and entitle him to rank among the 
great captains and discoverers of the earth. Hence- 
forth the discovery of the sea beyond the mountains 
was the great object of his thoughts, and his whole 
spirit seemed roused and ennobled by the idea." 

Returning to Darien, Balboa sent word to Spain 
that he had found a certain clue to the mighty sea, 
requesting that reinforcements might be sent. Before, 
however, the news, and the gold which accompanied it, 
could reach the court of Spain, intelligence from that 
country reached the colony, with the information that 
grave charges having been brought against him for his 
treatment of Nicuessa, he would be immediately sum- 
moned to Spain to answer them. This indeed seemed 
a death-blow to his ambitious projects; but then it 
occurred to him that one brilliant achievement like the 
discovery of a new ocean would gain him the favour 
of his sovereign ; thus he at once resolved to make the 
attempt with the few adventurers who were attached 
to his fortunes. 

On the 1st of September, lol3, Balboa embarked 



42 FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

witli a motley crew of Spanish adventurers, Indians, 
and a celebrated dog named Leoncico, his constant 
companion and body guard. Landing at Coyba, the 
territory of his Indian friend, Careta, he left half his 
men in charge of the shi^DS, and with the others set 
forth for the mountain. Now came his difficulties, 
— troops, worn out with fatigue and the disease of a 
pestilential climate, to be led through deep marshes, 
nearly impassable by perpetual rains, over mountains 
covered with trackless forests, and through defiles 
from which Indians, in secure ambuscade, showered 
down poisoned arrows. But this and more they bore 
with unflinching courage and untiring perseverance. 
At length they reached the base of a rocky height, from 
the top of which the Indian guards declared the sea 
could be seen. Balboa commanded a halt, and climbed 
to the top. 

On reaching the summit the long-desired prospect 
burst upon his view. Below him extended a vast 
chaos of rock and forest, and green savannahs and 
winding streams ; while at a distance the waters of the 
promised ocean glittered in the morning sun. 

Balboa fell upon his knees, and then calling to his 
people to ascend, he said, — " Behold, my friends, that 
glorious sight which we have so much desired. Let us 
give thanks to God that he has granted us this great 
honour and advantage. Let us pray to him to guide 
and aid us to conquer the sea and land which we have 
discovered, and into which the Christian has never 
entered to preach the holy doctrine of the Evangelists. 
As to yourselves, be as you have hitherto been, faithful 
and true to me, and, by the favour of Christ, you will 



BALBOA DISCOVERS THE PACIFIC OCEAIT. 43 

become the richest Spaniards that have ever come to 
the Indies; you will render the greatest services to 
your king that ever vassal rendered to his lord; and 
you will have the eternal glory and advantage of all 
that is here discovered, conquered, and converted to 
our holy Catholic faith." 

The Spaniards then embraced their leader, and the 
priest who accompanied the party chanted Te Deum 
Laudamus ; after which Balboa called upon all pre- 
sent to witness that he took possession of that sea, its 
islands and surrounding lands, in the name of the sove- 
reigns of Castile. It would seem to us rather an impu- 
dent proceeding were a shipload of strolling vagabond 
adventurers, from some unheard of and yet-to-be-dis- 
covered division of the globe, to come ashore at the 
Land's End in Cornwall, and quietly take possession of 
the British Islands, their wealth and inhabitants, in 
the name of some unknown sovereign; yet thus did 
the rapacious and piratical Portuguese and Spaniards 
arrogantly assume the right, under the grant of the 
Pope, of seizing not only the seas and islands of the 
savagely populated West Indies, but the powerful and 
civilized Empires of Mexico and Peru. Let my young 
reader glance at tbe map of the mighty Pacific Ocean, 
and the stupendous audacity of these people will 
astonish him. 

This the greatest, grandest discovery was made on 
the 26th of September, 1513. But how, think you, 
was the discoverer rewarded? Well, Balboa sent mes- 
sengers to the sovereigns of Spain with the important 
news, and to solicit an appointment commensurate with 
his services. Before, however, these messengers could 



44 FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

return to the colony a squadron arrived, bringing 
Pedrarias Davila, with orders to assume the govern- 
ment of the place. This man, jealous of the great 
actions of Balboa, sought every opportunity of ruining 
him. Indeed, so^ daring was he in his hatred, that when 
Balboa's messengers returned, bringing orders from the 
sovereigns for Davila to invest him with high titles and 
command, the new governor withheld the royal letter; 
and subsequently accusing him of treason, caused him 
to be publicly executed. Thus closed the brilliant 
career of Yasco Nunez de Balboa, the discoverer of the 
Pacific Ocean. 

Notable among the discoverers of the New World 
stands the name of Juan Ponce de Leon. This old ad- 
venturer having sailed with Columbus, had growTi both 
rich and gray in the colonial -service of SjDain. He had 
long been governor of Porto Pico, but being divested 
of his command, a burning desire seized him to emulate 
the enterprising Columbus by the discovery of a 
third world. It curiously happened that while he was 
thus cogitating which way he should strike forth in the 
unexplored regions around him he fell in with some 
old Indians. These people told the credulous old 
gentleman that far to the north there existed a land 
abounding in gold and in all manner of delights, but 
above all, possessing a river of such wonderful virtue 
that whoever bathed therein would be restored to 
youth. Ponce de Leon believed in this story; youth 
and wealth were to be his for the search; so he fitted 
out three ships at his own expense, and after some 
twenty-four days' sailing, went in quest of the country 
which possessed the wonderful river; but, alas ! he 



SEAECH FOR THE. TVATERS OF PERPETUAL YOUTH. 45 

could find no sucli coimtiy. He^ however, discovered a 
very important land, and perceiving it first upon a 
Palm Sunday (Pascua Florida), lie named it Florida, 
which, if not so important to himself as the fountain 
of youth, proved to be of great service to the world, 
and the means of keeping his name green in the history 
of maritime discovery. Nine years subsequently, with 
the hope of emulating the fame of Coi-tes, whose con- 
quest of Mexico was in the minds of all, the gallant 
old cavalier made a descent upon the coast, but, in a 
contest with the Indians, received a wound from which 
he died. " Thus fate," says a Spanish ballad, " delights 
to reverse the schemes of man." The discovery that 
Ponce de Leon flattered himself was to lead to a means 
of perpetuating his life had the ultimate effect of 
Jiastening his death. 

In many of the islands, and in various parts of the 
continent, viceroys had established themselves with 
more despotic power than that possessed even by the 
sovereigns of Spain. These men had two main objects; 
the first was to increase their wealth, the second to 
place the colonies on a sound basis. To effect the 
latter, large grants of land were given to the colonists, 
on which they raised the natural products of the 
soil — sugar, the beautiful dye-woods of the country, 
and the precious metals. These products, however, 
were not raised by the Spaniards; for no European 
could labour in these climates. It was done by cruelty, 
seizing the Indians, and distributing them among the 
colonists as slaves; and to comprehend the full brutal- 
ity of this system, you must know that these poor 
Indians and their arcestors, having been used to a life 



46 FOLLOWEES IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

of indolence and ease, were so unfitted for the toil 
forced upon them by the Spaniards, that they wasted 
away, died by thousands, until the population threat- 
ened to become rapidly exhausted. This system of 
repartimiento, as it was called, had been forbidden by 
the Spanish sovereigns, but in vain ; for the colonists 
justified their cruelty by saying that "the Indians 
would not labour without compulsion, and that unless 
they did labour they could not be. brought into com- 
munication with the whites, nor be converted to 
Christianity." Here let it be said that it was in the 
name of religion that the conquerors of the New World 
justified every act of rapacity and cruelty. 

In the year 1511, Diego, the son of Columbus, who 
reigned at Hispaniola, determined upon the conquest 
and colonization of Cuba, the first island discovered by 
his father. For this purpose he despatched a force 
under Don Diego Velasquez. This conquest was ef- 
fected with comparatively small bloodshed. One inci- 
dent, however, happened, which will exhibit how ter- 
rible was the name of Spaniard, even at that early 
period, among the natives. 

A chief named Hatuey having fled from the cruelty 
of the SjDaniards at St. Domingo, was condemned by 
Velasquez to be burned alive for having made a des- 
perate resistance. At the stake he was urged to em- 
brace Christianity, that his soul might find admission 
into heaven ; but he asked if the white men would go 
there ? and being answered in the afi&rmative, he 
exclaimed, — "Then I will not be a Christian; for I 
would not go again to a place where I must find men 
so cruel !" 



VOYAGE OF COEDOVA. 47 

Yelasquez being appointed governor of the new 
colony, formed several settlements, one of which, 
situated to the south-east, he named St. Jago, and fixed 
upon it as the seat of his government. To expedite 
the growth of the colony, Yelasquez offered large 
grants of land to all who would settle in Cuba and 
work the sugar cane and gold mines. It would appear, 
however, that the number of candidates must have 
exceeded the lands to be granted ; for Bernal Diaz, who 
was afterwards one of the conquerors of Mexico, 
having awaited, with many others, nearly three years 
for one of these grants, says, " Considering this, there- 
fore, as so much loss of time, one hundred and ten of 
us elected for our captain a rich Hidalgo, named 
Francisco Hernandez de Cordova, and determined to 
set out under his command upon a voyage of discovery. 
For this purpose we bought two vessels of considerable 
burthen, and our third was a bark which we obtained 
on credit from the Governor Yelasquez; he, however, 
proposed as a condition that we should engage the 
soldiers to make a descent on certain islands, to seize a 
number of the inhabitants to make slaves of them." 
This^ indeed, is asserted by Prescott to have been the 
real object of the voyage, and it seems most probable; 
for there was a great want of slaves in the island, and, 
notwithstanding its illegality, and being against the 
express commands of the Spanish sovereigns, Indian 
stealing was the common custom of the conquerors. 
The old soldier, Diaz, however, says, — " But when the 
proposal of Yelasquez was made known to the soldiers, 
we to a man refused it, saying that it was not just, 



48 FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

nor did God or the king permit that free men should 
be made slaves." 

Whatever may have been the real object of this 
expedition, its result was of singular importance, 
for it led to the discovery and conquest of Mexico. 
Cordova sailed ; but a succession of heavy gales drove 
liim out of his coiu^se, which was to the Bahamas, 
and at the end of three weeks he found himself on 
a strange and unknown coast (Yucatan). When 
the adventurers went ashore they were astonished at 
finding evidences of a superior race and a higher 
civilization than as yet had been met with among the 
natives of the New World. The houses were of much 
more solid materials, the soil was cultivated, and the 
inhabitants were clothed with garments of cotton of 
^the most delicate texture. If, however, they were 
more civilized, they were also more warlike; for at 
every point they met the Spaniards with the most 
deadly hostility. Indeed, the expedition proved very 
disastrous ; for out of one hundred and ten men who 
had left Cuba, biit one half the number returned to 
that island. Among the latter was the commander: 
lie, however, died of his wounds a few days afterwards. 

Sad as were the results of this expedition, the news 
brought to Yelasquez, and, still more, some curiously 
wrought golden ornaments which had been taken from 
the natives, decided the governor upon immediately 
sending forth another and more formidable squadron 
under the command of his nephew, Juan de Grijalva. 

Grijalva seems to have been not only a brave but a 
politic commander; for although upon landing, like 



KEWS OF THE MEXICAN EMPIRE. 49 

Cordova, he met witli the same unfriendly reception, 
he succeeded in holding several conferences with the 
native chiefs; and in exchange for a few worthless 
toys, such as beads and trinkets of European manu- 
fticture, received a rich treasure of jewels, gold orna- 
ments, and vessels of the most fantastic forms and 
workmanship. From one of these chiefs, Grijalva 
heard of the great Mexican empire in the interior, 
and its Emperor Montezuma. Indeed, he was the first 
navigator who opened an intercourse with the Aztecs. 
At every place where this navigator stopped he was, 
like Cordova, astonished at the evidence of a high 
civilization, but more especially at the sight of large 
stone crosses (evidently the objects of worship), which 
he met with in various spots. Thus being reminded 
of his own country he named the peninsula New 
Spain. 

At length, then, veritable news of a golden empire 
had been received. The probable future nearly drove 
Velasquez, the Governor of Cuba, mad with joy. The 
conquest of this new country must be undertaken : he 
should obtain the glory as well as some solid benefits. 
At once he desj^atched his chaplain to Spain with 
the intelligence, and the royal share of the Mexican 
gold; and lastly, to solicit the sovereigns' permission 
to proceed with the conquest and colonization of the 
new regions of gold. But a long time must elapse 
before he could receive an answer from Spain : he 
would not, he could not wait. So he determined at 
once upon fitting out an armament. But a man was 
required who would share the cost of such an expedi- 
tion, and, moreover, fitting to take the command — 
E 



50 FOLLOWERS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLUMBUS. 

one who would not make himself independent. There 
were but few men living who could have successfully 
filled that post. One of those was Hernando Cortes; 
and he obtained it, afterwards to the great chagrin 
and bitter regret of Yelasquez himself, who bestowed it 
upon him. But how all that came about; in fact, 
how a wild, reckless youth became a great hero, and 
obtained immortal fame, we shall see in the following 
pages. 



THE 



STOEY OF COETES 



THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO. 



51 



CHAPTER I. 



CORTES THE CONQUEROl 



Should any among my young readers pine for a larger 
circle of relations, let them set manfully to work to 
make themselves celebrated, and, if successful, they will 
no longer have cause to complain; nay, in all pro- 
bability, they will speedily discover a kindred as 
numerous as a Scotch clan. Cities have contended 
for the honour of having given birth to the blind 
beggar Homer. The proudest nobles in Italy, who 
would never have heard of the Genoese sailor Colon, 
laid claim to the blood and estates of the great admiral 
and lofty titled discoverer of the "Indies." Thus 
historians have cleverly traced the genealogy of the 
celebrated man who is to be the hero of the follow- 
ing narrative back to a pre-historic era, to, in fact, 
the Lombard kings, whose posterity ultimately esta- 
blished themselves in Arragon under the Gothic 
monarchy. 

Hernando Cortes, who was born at Medellin, in the 
province of Estremadura, in the year 1485, was the 
son of Martin Cortes de Monroy, a captain of infantry, 
a man of honour and excellent reputation, and Dona 
Catalina Pizarro Altramirano, his wife. Of the early 
years of Cortes but little is known, and that little is 



6'2 CORTES THE CONQUEROR. 

not to his advantage or for the example of my readers; 
for, whatever may have been the case in the stormy 
period known as the Middle Ages, it is rare indeed at 
the present time that a wild, unsettled youth develops 
into a wise or great man. 

The captain was not by any means rich ; still, per- 
ceiving some talent in the boy, he exerted himself to 
send him to the university of Salamanca, with a view 
to his studying the law. Cortes was therefore sent to 
college at the age of foui-teen. Learning, however, was 
not to his taste : so, after loitering away two years, he 
returned home, to the great chagrin of his parents. 
" He now passed his days," says his biographer, " in 
the idle, unprofitable manner of one who, too wilful 
to be guided by others, proposes no object to himself. 
His buoyant spirits were continually breaking out in 
troublesome frolics and capricious humours, quite at 
variance with the orderly habits of his father's house- 
hold." This is a very mild description of one who, 
whatever he may have become in after life, was in 
youth an incorrigible scamp. At the age of seventeen 
he had an opportunity of gi-atifying his love of adven- 
ture by accompanying Don Nicholas de Ovando, who, 
having been appointed Governor of Hispaniola, was 
proceeding to the New "World in command of a 
splendid armament. A few days, however, before 
that commander sailed, he was engaged in a vicious 
and disreputable nocturnal adventure, the result of 
which was an accident that confined him to his bed 
until after the fleet had set out. Eecovering in a 
short time, he continued the same course of life for 
about two years, when, another opportunity occurring, 



CORTES LEAVES SPAIN FOR THE NEW WORLD. 53 

he joined a small squadron bound to the Indian 
islands. Thus, in the year 1504, at nineteen years of 
age, Hernando Cortes, the idler, and worse, of Cadiz 
and Seville, quitted his country, it may be said 
doubly for his country's good. Twenty-four years 
afterwards he returned to find the Old World ringinor 
with his achievements and fame j for he came back the 
greatest captain and conqueror of his age. 

Of course, obsequious contemporary biographers must 
relate some wonderful event at different periods in the 
career of so great a celebrity; so, out of an ordinary 
occurrence during this first voyage, they create a. 
miracle. The captain of the ship in which Cortes 
sailed cunningly thought to reach the Island of His- 
paniola in advance of his brother captains, in order that 
he might secure the market to himself. To do this, one 
night while the squadron was anchored off the Canaries 
taking in supplies, he stole away. A great storm, how- 
ever, coming on, he was driven out of his track, and 
thus lost his reckoning. For many days the crew were 
in great apprehension, when one morning a white dove 
lighted on the top of the mast. The bird having rested, 
again flew away, and following the course of its flight, 
they soon came in sight of Hispaniola, which port, by 
the way, the artful rogue had the mortification to 
find had been reached some days previously by the 
other captains, who had sold all their cargoes. The 
only miracle was the foiling of a knave by his own 
cunning. 

Upon an-iving at Hispaniola, our hero, impatient to 
commence a career of adventure by which the much 
coveted gold was to be won, lost no time in calling at 



54 CORTES THE CONQUEROH. 

the residence of the Governor Ovando, with whom he 
had been upon very friendly terms in Spain. Ovando 
was absent upon an expedition against the Indians in 
the interior; still, the secretary received the youth 
kindly, telling him that there was no doubt that 
he would soon receive a grant of land to settle on. 
"But," replied Cortes, whose mind was bent upon 
a much easier method of obtaining wealth, "I came 
here to get gold; not to till the soil like a peasant." 
Nevertheless, the young adventurer had sufficient cun- 
ning to prefer "a bird in the hand to two in the 
bush;" for soon after, the governor returning, we find 
he condescended to accept the grant of land, with 
a repartimiento of Indians to till it. He was also 
appointed notary of a town or settlement called 
Acua. 

For about seven years Cortes patiently, or more 
probably impatiently, awaited his opportunity. During 
this period he seems to have relieved the monotony of 
his civilian occupations by a course of immoral con- 
duct similar to that he had followed in Spain, and 
which led him into so many duels^ that the scars, both 
deep and numerous, received in these encounters, dis- 
figured his handsome face to the last hour of his life. 
He again found vent for his enterprising spirit by 
accompanying Ovando's lieutenant in several military 
expeditions against the natives. "In this school," 
says Prescott, " the young adventurer first studied the 
wild tactics of Indian warfare. He became familiar 
with toil and danger, and with those deeds of cruelty 
which have too often, alas ! stained the bright scutcheons 
of the Castilian chivalry in the New World." Even at 



COllTES QUARRELS WITH THE GOVERNOR. 00 

that early period good fortune seems to have waited 
upon the future conqueror; for it was only by a 
timely illness that he was prevented from joining that 
expedition led by Nicuessa, the sad and tragic fate of 
which we have seen in the previous chapter. 

In 1511 the above-named Yelasquez undertook the 
subjection of Cuba. Cortes accompanied him, and so 
well and valiantly did he behave throughout the war 
that, after the conquest, the new governor, Yelasquez, 
made him his secretary. The friendship, however, 
soon met with a serious interruj^tion. Cortes won 
and trifled with the affections of a young lady. Dona 
Catalina Pacheco. He had promised to marry her; 
but refusing to keep his promise, the governor, who 
was interested in the family, remonstrated with him. 
Cortes, who could ill bear rebuke, from that moment 
disliked his chief; nay, even went so far as to enter 
into the plans of a disaffected party of the colonists, 
who intended to proceed to Hispaniola and lay their 
complaints against Yelasquez before the governor of 
that island, under whom Yelasquez himself held his 
own commission. This conspiracy, however, becoming 
known to the governor, he immediately caused Cortes 
to be heavily ironed and thrown into prison ; nay, it is 
said, would have hanged him, but for the interference 
of some powerful friends. 

From the prison and his fetters Cortes contrived to 
escape, and he took refuge in a neighbouring church to 
the great rage of Yelasquez, who, although he dared not 
violate the sanctuary, set a guard around it, with 
orders to seize him should he venture without the 
walls. One day he did so venture, and instantly a 



5Q CORTES THE CONQUEROR. 

man named Juan Escudero pinioned him from behind; 
the others rushed to his aid, and Cortes was again a 
prisoner. This Juan Escudero was afterwards hanged 
in New Spain by the order of Cortes. 

The morning after his recapture he was placed on 
board a ship to be taken to Hispaniola, to be tried for 
his crime against his superior. It seems, however, to 
have been no easy matter to keep him in durance ; for 
at night, while the ship lay at anchor, he once more 
slipped his chains, leaped into the water, and swam 
ashore, where he again sought refuge in the church. 
For this escape there can be little doubt that he was 
indebted to the soldiers, with whom his humour and 
careless, kindly manner had made him very popular. 

Shortly after this last flight Cortes saw some reason 
to relinquish his objections to the marriage with Doiia 
Catalina. In all probability it was the wretched state 
of his pecuniary affairs ; for the good Bishop Las Casas, 
who knew him well at the time, states that then 
" Cortes was so poor and lowly, that he would gladly 
have received any favour from the meanest of Velas- 
quez's attendants." The consequence of this marriage 
was a speedy reconciliation with the governor, who 
made him a grant of territory with a liberal reparti- 
miento of Indians. Cortes then settled down upon his 
estate, and worked so steadily at its improvement that 
in less than seven years he had accumulated a consider- 
able sum of money. Thus happily domesticated with 
his amiable and beautiful wife, stocking his plantations, 
and working some gold mines that had fallen to his 
share, he would in all probability have passed the 
rest of his days, had it not been for the arrival of 



CORTES APPOINTED CAPTAIN-GENERAL. 57 

Alvarado from tlie coast of Yucatan with the news of 
the discoveries of Grijalva. The golden results of his 
traffic with the natives sent all the colonists, from 
governor to drummer boy, mad with joy and anticipa- 
til3n for the accomplishment of this discovery, which 
they regarded as but a trifling indication of the un- 
bounded wealth to be had only for the looking for. 

As we Lave seen in the last chapter, Yelasquez 
resolved at once upon fitting out an armament for the 
purpose of following up the discoveries of his nephew, 
Grijalva. He wanted, however, a commander who 
could not only share the expenses, but one of a temper 
so unambitious and obedient, that in the event of suc- 
cess he would not seek to make himself independent 
— a man, in fact, who, for a portion of the profits, would 
do all the work, and give to Yelasquez all the glory. 
Unfortunately for his own interests, but luckily for 
Spain, the governor permitted himself to be persuaded to 
appoint Hernando Cortes captain -general of the armada. 

Brutus feigned idiocy in the court of Tarquin, 
till the death of Lucretia gave him the opportunity 
of displaying those qualities which destroyed a dynasty 
of tyrants and created a republic. Pope Sixtus Y. 
hypocritically crept along the earth like the meanest of 
insects, simulating one foot in the grave, so that 
the conclave had no hesitation in electing to the papal 
chair a moribund cardinal; but once enthroned, his 
powerful intellect and will shook every tyrant lesser 
than himself. Kienzi, also, it is said, simulated the 
bufibon in the halls of the proud nobles, his patrons, 
till his opportunity came. 

Cortes had been abiding his time from the hour 



58 CORTES THE CONQUEROH. 

of his quitting Spain. It had now come; he was to 
have an independent command. None knew better 
than he the full import of the discoveries of Grijalva. 
At once his mind grasped the idea that these new 
countries were but indicatory outposts of that great 
empire to the far west, of which several mariners 
had gathered dark hints, and which Columbus, in 
his visit to Honduras in 1502, so narrowly missed, 
by striking to the south in quest of the strait he 
supposed would lead to India, instead of keeping a 
northern course. " From the hour of his appoint- 
ment," says his biographer, " the deportment of Cortes 
seemed to undergo a change. His thoughts, instead 
of evaporating in empty levities, or idle flashes of 
merriment, were wholly concentrated on the great 
object to which he was devoted. His elastic spirit 
was shown in cheering and stimulating the com- 
panions of his toilsome duties, and he was aroused 
to a generous enthusiasm, of which even those who 
knew him best had not conceived him capable. He 
applied at once all the money in his possession in 
fitting out the armament. He raised more by the 
mortgage of his estates, and by giving his obligations 
to some wealthy merchants of the place, who relied 
for repayment on the success of the expedition." 

The monies thus acquired he exhausted in the pur- 
chase of vessels, provisions, and military stores, while 
he invited recruits by offers of assistance to such as were 
too poor to provide for themselves, and by the additional 
promise of a liberal share of the anticipated profits. 
None knew better than our captain-general the im- 
portance of due " pomp and circumstance " in the order- 



POPULARITY OF THE GENERAL. 59 

ing of such an exi^edition. Accordingly, lie assamed 
more state in his dress, "wearing now," says one of 
his officers, Bernal Diaz, "a plume of feathers and a 
gold medal in his cap, which ornaments became him 
very well." His great standard was composed of rich 
black velvet, embroidered with gold, and emblazoned 
with a red cross, amidst flames of blue and white, 
with this motto in Latin, " Brothers, follow this holy 
cross with true faith, for with it we shall conquer." 

Then it was proclaimed by drum and trumpet that 
all who would enrol themselves beneath this standard 
should, as soon as the conquest was efiected, have 
their full share of gold and land. This proclamation 
was no sooner made, Diaz tells us, " than, by general 
inclination, as well as the private influence of the 
new general, volunteers offered themselves everywhere. 
JSTothiug was to be seen or spoken of but selling 
lands, to purchase arms and horses, quilting coats of 
mail, making bread, and salting pork for sea stores." 
In an incredibly short time three hundred recruits — 
a great number for so small a colony — had flocked 
to the standard, among whom were the following 
men of rank belonging to the governor's household : — - 
Diego de Ordas, !F. de Morla, Eseobra, Hereda, Ruano, 
Escudero, Ramos de Lares, and others whom Velasquez 
had appointed to accompany the expedition in the 
quality of spies upon the actions of Cortes ; for already 
had the great popularity of the general excited the 
governor's jealous suspicions. Cortes is described by 
a contemporary as being at this period " between thirty- 
three and thirty-four years of age, about the middle 
size, pale complexion, dark eyes, and a grave counten- 



60 CORTES THE CONQUEROE. 

ance, a slender figure, deep chest, and broad shoulders, 
but of muscular and well-proj)ortioned frame — such 
physical powers, indeed, as qualified him to excel in 
fencing, horsemanship, and other chivalrous exercises; 
also as being temperate, careless of what he ate, and 
t uite indifferent to toil and privations. His dress was 
neither grand nor striking, but rich, and adapted to 
show his handsome form to advantage. The orna- 
ments he wore were few, but of great cost. His 
manners, frank and soldierlike, concealed a cool and 
calculating spirit. In his gayest humour there was 
mingled a settled air of resolution, which made those 
who approached him feel they must obey, and which 
infused something like awe into the attachment of his 
most devoted followers." 

The commission once in his possession, as we have 
seen, Cortes lost no time in making his preparations. 
For this he had good reason. The friends and relations 
of Yelasquez, envying the position and popularity of the 
new general, sought every means to incline the governor 
to rescind his appointment; and this he was ultimately 
induced to do, it is said, by the following incident : — 
You know, in the Middle Ages, it was the custom for 
most men of high rank and power to have about them 
jesters or fools, who were permitted to use a liberty of 
speech that, in many instances, would have cost their 
superiors their lives. One of these attended the person 
of Yelasquez as he was walking one morning, with 
Cortes, down to the port, to examine the ships. Now 
this fool was either a man of deep foresight or had had 
the words prepared for him by the enemies of the general; 
for during the walk he said, — " Have a care, Master 




Cortes out"wits sind. takes leave of Velasquez. 



CORTES OUTWITS THE GOVERNOR. 61 

Velasquez, or we shall liave to go ahunting some day 
or other after this same captain of ours," " Cortes, do 
you hear what the rogue says 1 " asked the governor. 
" Do not heed him ; he is a scurvy knave, and deserves 
a good whipping," replied the general. But the go- 
vernor did heed the fool; nay, so much so, that by a 
little more persuasion from the enemies of Cortes, he 
resolved to supei-sede him in his command. Cortes, 
however, getting a hint of this resolution, and, more- 
over, that it was to be acted upon on a certain day, 
expedited matters, and that, too, so quietly, that the 
eveaiiug before he got all his officers and men together, 
told them his suspicions of the injury intended him, 
and that therefore, unprepared as he was, he should 
sail that very night. The love for Cortes was never 
better shown; for at midnight, when the town was 
hushed in sleep, they all went quietly on board, and 
the little squadron of six ships dropped down the bay. 
Imagine the astonishment of the people of St. Jago in 
the morning, at witnessing the departure of the fleet ; 
also the rage of the outwitted Yelasquez, when the 
intelligence was brought to him as he lay in bed ! In 
a few minutes he had dressed, mounted his horse, and, 
followed by his retinue, had galloped down to the 
quay. 

Cortes, perceiving the approach of his superior, en- 
tered an armed boat, and was rowed within ear-shot of 
the shore. " Is it thus you part from me?" exclaimed 
the governor, half-choked with rage. " A courteous 
way of taking leave, truly." 

" Pardon me," replied our hero, " time presses, and 
there are some things that should be done before they 



62 COPvTES THE COXQUEROR. 

are even tLouglit of. Has jquy excellency any com- 
mands?" But the mortified Yelasquez making no 
reply, Cortes returned to liis vessel, and the fleet set 
sail for the port of Macaca, about fifteen leagues dis- 
tant. At this port Cortes laid in such stores as he 
could obtain, and then sailed for Trinidad, a town upon 
the southern coast of Cuba. 

At Trinidad Cortes found that his fame had marched 
so greatly in advance, that when he set u]3 his standard, 
volunteers flocked to it from all quarters; and very 
valuable recruits they were. One hundred were from 
Grijalva's squadron: they had just returned from their 
-voyage, and brought important information. Then he 
w^aa joined by many men of rank, — Pedro de Alvarado 
and his brothers; Christoval de Olid ; Alonzo de Avila; 
Juan Velasquez de Leon, a near relation of the go 
vernor; Alonzo Hernandez; Puerto Carrero; and 
Gonzalo de Sandoval — the greater part captains who 
played as mighty a part in the Iliad of Mexico, and 
whose fame will be as enduring as that of the captains 
who laid in ashes the proud city of Troy. These leaders 
joined Cortes in a body, and were received by his little 
army with music and salvos of artillery. 

While they were laying in stores, the general heard 
that a trading ship, heavily laden with grain for the 
miners, was ofl" the coast. This was joyful news. So 
he sent forth one of his caravels to capture and bring 
her into port. This being accomplished, he paid Se- 
deno, the captain, in bills; and so well satisfied was 
Sedeno with the transaction, that he was easily per- 
suaded to enlist his person and wealth in the expedition. 
Then hearing that another trading ship was off the 



VELASQUEZ ENDEAVOUllS TO SEIZE CORTES. G3 

coast, Cortes sent Diego de Ordaz in quest, with orders 
to seize it, and to meet him off Cape St. Antonio, the 
westerly point of the island. His main object in select- 
ing Ordaz for this duty was, the getting rid of a man 
who, belonging to the household of Yelasquez, might 
prove an awkward sj^y upon his actions. 

About this time Yerdugo, who was governor of 
Trinidad, and the brother-in-law of Yelasquez, was 
commanded by the latter to seize and imprison Cortes. 
This, however, Yerdugo did not dare, for fear the 
soldiers would have laid the town in ashes. Then 
sending Alvarado with a small body of men to march 
across the country to the Havanna, in order that he 
might pick up recruits in the way, Cortes, with the 
main body, took to the ships, and sailed round to the 
same town by a westerly course. At this place he 
marshalled his troops, and arranged them into eleven 
companies, placing each under the command of an 
experienced cavalier. 

At this town Yelasquez again endeavoured to have 
the general an^ested; but Barba, the governor, could 
not have obeyed the command of Yelasquez even if he 
had had the inclination; for, says Diaz, "All the 
army, officers and privates, would have cheerfully laid 
down their lives for him. Cortes, however, wrote a 
civil letter to Yelasquez, begging that his excellency 
would rely on his devotion to his interests, and the 
following day the expedition sailed for Cape Antonio. 

Landing on the cape, the general mustered and 
reviewed his troops. They consisted of one hundred 
and ten mariners, five hundred and fifty-three soldiers, 
including thirty-two cross - bowmen, and thirteen 

F 



64 CORTES THE CONQUEROR. 

arquebusiers, besides two liundred natives of tlie 
islands, and a few Indian women for menial offices. 
He was provided with ten heavy guns, fonr lighter 
pieces, called falconets, a good supply of ammunition, 
but only sixteen horses. With this handful of men he 
was about to attempt the conquest of a great, popu- 
lous, and warlike empire. That he was well aware of 
the difficulties with which he should have to contend, 
and at the same time had resolved to surmount them, 
is evinced by the speech he made to the troops just 
before their re-embarkation. He appealed to their 
ambition, avarice, and religious zeal. He told them 
they were engaged in an enterprise that would make 
their names famous in after ages ; that they were enter- 
ing into countries more vast and wealthy than any ever 
before visited by Europeans. " I hold out to you," he 
added, "a glorious prize; but it is to be won only by 
incessant toil. Great things are achieved only by great 
exertions, and glory was never the reward of sloth. If 
I have laboured hard, and staked my all in this under- 
taking, it is for the love of that renown which is the 
noblest recompense of man. But, if any among you 
covet riches more, be but true to me, as I will be true 
to you and to the occasion, and I will make you 
masters of such wealth as our countrymen have never 
dreamed of. You are few in number, but strong in 
resolution ; and, if this does not falter, doubt not but 
that the Almighty, w^ho has never deserted the Spaniard 
in his contest with the infidel, will shield you, though 
encompassed by a cloud of enemies ; for your cause is 
a just cause, and you are to fight under the banner of 
the cross. Go forward, then, with alacrity and confi- 



CORTES' INSTRUCTIONS. G5 

dence, and carry to a glorious issue tlie work so 
auspiciously begun." 

Thus, you see, the conquest and plunder of a mighty 
empire, the dethronement of the heii' of an ancient 
line of princes, and the destruction or enslaving of a 
people, were regarded by those daring adventurers as 
a proceeding so righteous that Heaven would openly 
interfere in their favour. It would be unjust, how- 
ever, to measure the acts of the conquerors by the 
standard of our own time ; for in those days there was 
perhaps not a single nation in Christendom who would 
not have regarded it rather as a holy crusade than as 
a piratical expedition. By the rude soldiers them- 
selves the massacre and plunder of the heathen was 
held as but one degree less meritorious than their con- 
version to Christianity. 

Although there is little doubt that the conquest of 
Mexico had entered the mind of Cortes from the 
instant he had received the command, it may be 
clearly seen that no such thought had been enter- 
tained by the Governor of Cuba, from his instructions 
to Cortes, which were to the following effect : — First, 
He was to seek for the missing Grijalva. Secondly, He 
was to cause search to be made for some Spaniards 
whom Cordova, upon his return to Cuba, had reported 
to be living with the Indians somewhere upon the coast 
of Yucatan. Thirdly, He was to barter with the 
natives, to do them no wrong, but treat them kindly 
and with humanity, and, above all things, to bear in 
mind that the object which the sovereign of Spain had 
most at heart was their conversion to Christianity. 
He was to impress upon the natives the greatness of 



66 COETES THE CONQUEROR. 

the Spanish monarch, and to invite them " to give in 
their allegiance to his majesty, and to manifest it by 
regaling him with such comfortable presents of gold, 
pearls, and precious stones, as would show their own 
good-will, and secure his favour and protection." 
Further, Cortes was to survey the coast, bays, and 
inlets, for the benefit of future navigators; and to 
learn all he could of the country, its natural produc- 
tions, the people, and their manners, customs, and 
institutions. 

With these instructions, Cortes and his companions 
sailed for Yucatan on the 10th day of February, 
1519. The object of the expedition was comparatively 
simple — its results colossal. 



67 



CHAPTEH IT. 



PRELIMINARY CONQUESTS. 



Soon after sailing, tlie brave little fleet suffered severely 
from a violent tempest, and this causing Cortes to 
linger behind for the purpose of convoying a disabled 
ship, he was among the last to reach the Island of 
Cozumel, near Yucatan. Upon his landing, however, 
he heard that one of his captains (Alvarado), who had 
arrived two days before, had ordered his men to enter 
the native town, plunder the temple of its ornaments, 
and rob the people ; some of whom he had also taken 
prisoners. The consequence of which was that the 
inhabitants had fled in terror into the interior. 

Indignant at an act which might have caused him 
serious inconvenience, Cortes sent for Alvarado, and, 
says one who was present, " gravely reprehended him 
for his imprudence in seizing the property of the 
natives, telling him, that was by no means the way to 
effect any good in the country." After which he ordered 
two of the prisoners to be brought before him, and, 
having loaded them with presents, desired that they 
would go back to their countrymen, and tell them that 
his objects were peace and barter, therefore they might 
return to their habitations without fear of annoyance 
from his people. Moreover, he ordered that the 



68 PRELIMINARY CONQUESTS. 

plunder sliould be restored, and the fowls that had 
been eaten paid for with beads and trinkets. This 
proved to be good policy, and I fear there was more of 
that in this act than real kindliness; for the people 
were so satisfied with this treatment, that the next 
day the chief and his people returned, and, says Diaz, 
" mixed with us in so easy and amiable a manner that 
it would have been supposed we had passed our lives 
together." The result of this friendly intercourse was 
not only barter to the profit of the fleet, but Cortes 
learned positively that the two Spaniards whose release 
he had been instructed to obtain were still in captivity 
on the neighbouring shores of Yucatan. 

That no time should be lost in rescuing two fellow- 
Christians from the hands of the heathens, the general 
at once despatched Diego de Ordaz, with two brigan- 
tines, to Yucatan, with orders to remain there eight 
days. Some Indians also accompanied Ordaz to search 
for the captive Spaniards^ and inform them of the 
arrival of their countrymen, who were prepared to ofier 
a liberal ransom for their release. 

Upon the Island of Cozumel the Spaniards were 
surprised to find a huge cross, built of stone and lime. 
They hailed it as a good omen, and began speculating 
as to the wonderful race of heathens who should, like 
themselves, venerate the sacred symbol of Christianity. 
By the natives, however, it was worshipped as the 
emblem of their God of rain. There was also a large 
temple and very many hideous idols which the people 
worshipped. Shocked at this idolatry, Cortes at once 
ordered the priests who accompanied the army to 
attempt their conversion, and to explain to them 



FIRST MASS PERFORMED IN NEW SPAIN. 69 

the danger in which their souls were placed by such 
practices. But the native priests and chiefs were 
not so easily to be turned from the worship of their 
ancestors, and declared that if the Spaniards molested 
the idols, the latter would visit them with their 
vengeance. Cortes had short answers for heathens. 
He wished to convince the people of their errors, 
and so, without further ceremony, caused the hideous 
images to be toppled down the great steps of the 
temple, to the great horror and terror of the groaning 
and lamenting people, upon whom, however, the lesson 
had a salutary effect; for, astounded either at the 
daring of the invaders, or the impotence of gods who 
could not protect their own shrines from violation, they 
listened to the Spanish fathers, and consented to em- 
brace Christianity. Upon the site of the pagan idols 
the Spaniards constructed an image of the Virgin and 
Child, and mass was performed for the first time within 
the walls of a temple in New Spain, by the two priests^ 
01m edo and Diaz. 

When the eight days had expired during which Ordaz 
had been ordered to remain off Yucatan, he returned to 
Cozumel, but without tidings of the captive Spaniards. 
Cortes was vexed at this failure ; still, being impatient 
to proceed, he embarked his troops, and in the begin- 
ning of March, took leave of the hospitable and 
simple people, who had stored his ships with provisions. 
The fleet, however, had not proceeded far, v/hen, dis- 
covering one of the vessels to be disabled, he was com- 
pelled to return to the island. Who cannot imagine the 
chagrin of the brave chief at so vexatious an accident 1 
The result, however, was attended with such important 



70 PRELBIINAEY CONQUESTS. 

consequences, that a Spanish writer ascribes it to the 
intervention of Heaven. 

The general and his staff had just landed when his 
attention was tiu'ned to a canoe manned by four In- 
dians, who were making their way to the island from the 
direction of Yucatan. It was necessary to watch their 
movements, therefore Cortes sent a party of soldiers to 
reconnoitre. These remained in ambush near the 
shore till the Indians landed. The soldiers must have 
believed them bent upon mischief; for, sword in hand, 
they rushed upon them. Guess, however, their surprise, 
when one of the savages, who, like the others, was 
perfectly naked, and had his hair braided round his 
head after the Indian fashion, his skin of deepest 
tawny, a bow in his hand, a quiver full of arrows at 
his shoulder, and a net-w^ork pouch at his side, threw 
himself upon his knees, and, raising his eyes, which were 
filled with tears, gave thanks to God for having at 
length restored him to his countrymen. 

This man was Jeronimo de Aguilar, one of those 
Spaniards for whom Ordaz had waited eight days off 
Yucatan. The astonished and delighted soldiers there- 
fore lost no time in taking liim and his companions to 
the general, at whose feet they fell, all making signs of 
the humblest devotion and submission. Cortes gave 
the poor fellow a warm welcome; and, raising him 
from the earth, threw over his shoulders his own 
handsome mantle of yellow, lined" with crimson. So 
long, however, had Aguilar been accustomed to be 
naked, that even this small covering was for a time 
almost insujiportable. Moreover, so habituated had he 
become to the light food of the natives, that it was not 



ADVENTURES OF DE AGUILAR. 71 

without some suffering that his stomach became recon- 
ciled to the rations set before him. 

Jeronimo de Aguilar was born in Andalusia, and 
educated for the church, an education, it will be seen, 
he by no means shamed at any time in his adventurous 
career; indeed, the persistency with which he adhered 
to the rules of his religion, amidst great danger, 
suffering, and even much temptation, gives additional 
interest to his narrative. Soon after he was ordained 
he sailed with a fleet (probably in a clerical capacity) 
to St. Domingo, or Hispaniola, as it was then called ; 
from thence he passed to Darien, in which colony he 
remained until the governor, Yasco Nunez de Balboa 
(the subsequent discoverer of the Pacific Ocean), sent a 
ship under the command of Valdivia to Hispaniola to 
buy provisions for his starving colonists. Aguilar 
sailed with Yaldivia ; hence his misfortunes. 

For some days after leaving Darien all went well. 
As they came in sight, however, of Jamaica, a violent 
storm drove the ship upon some hidden rocks called 
the Vipers, and she went to pieces so quickly that 
Valdivia, Aguilar, and nineteen others, had barely 
time to get into a boat. They were unable to take a 
sufficient quantity of provisions; moreover, they had 
no sails, and oars were almost useless. ' For thirteen 
days these poor creatures were at the mercy of the 
elements; their sufferings were so terrible from want of 
food and water that seven perished from starvation. 
The remainder were at length cast ashore upon the 
eastern coast of Yucatan, when they were at once 
seized by the natives, and penned up in a large cage. 

In the midst, however, of the darkness of despair, 



72 pheliminaey conquests. 

there 3ame a gleam of sunslaine, possibly of hope; for 
although deprived of liberty, they were so well fed and 
cared for, that in a short time they began to recover 
their vigour and strength of body. It would have 
been fortunate for the poor fellows had they remained 
as thin as scarecrows; for to the indescribable horror 
of Aguilar, one day while the prisoners, full of hope at 
the hospitable treatment with which they had met, 
and were in all probability speculating upon the time 
when they should regain their freedom, the cacique, or 
chief, came to their cage, and having noticed with 
satisfaction their improved condition, selected Yaldivia 
and four of his companions to be sacrificed to his idols. 
Can you imagine the feelings of the survivors when 
they heard the yells and bowlings of the savages over 
their dying victims 1 or their sensations of sickening 
horror when they saw the limbs of their comrades 
served up at a grand feast held by the cacique and his 
people in honour of his gods ? Are you surprised when 
Aguilar, who had known so terribly well the pangs of 
starvation, says, that after this sight he and the others 
turned with loathing from the food set so abundantly 
before them, knowing that it was but to fatten them 
for a future banquet. 

Great must have been the horror of Cortes and his 
soldiers at this recital; but what would have been the 
effect upon the latter could they have foreseen that so 
many in their ranks were destined to a similar fate 1 I 
am inclined to think that the bravest among them would 
have abandoned the expedition and returned to Cuba, as 
indeed they sought to do, and would have done at a later 
date had their general been a l^s determined man. 



STORY OF GONZALO GUERRO. 73 

The siglit of that fearful feast lent superhuman 
courage to Aguilar and his fellows. One night they 
broke their cage, and together fled into the depths of 
the forest. Here they wandered, enduring the utmost 
misery, yet dreading to seek a savage village. At 
length hunger drove them into a different part of the 
country, where they fell into the hands of another 
tribe of natives, whose chief, although less ferocious 
than he from whose power they had escaped, still 
made them slaves, and exacted from them such severe 
labour, that one by one all died, with the exception of 
Aguilar and a seaman named Gonzalo Guerro. 

The characters of these two men were as widely 
different as their educations. The sailor being trans- 
ferred to a neighbouring cacique, determined to make 
the best of his situation; thus, he soon adapted his 
habits to those of the natives, followed his master to 
the wars, and his courage being as good as his con- 
science was flexible, he so won the favour of the chief 
that he rose to be a distinguished warrior, and the 
husband of an Indian princess, Aguilar, who could 
not forget that he was a priest, pursued a different 
course. The cacique who had exacted such severe labour 
from the captives died, and was succeeded by one of a 
more kindly disposition, who, having observed the 
docility with which Aguilar had submitted to slavery, 
and his meek obedience to every order, however arbi- 
trary, resolved to take him into his confidence. Before 
doing this, however, the chief made the poor priest pass 
through many ordeals. For instance, once when a 
party of the savages were shooting at a mark, one of 
them, whose paint, decorations, and ferocious appear- 



y4: preliminary conquests. 

ance, betokened him to be a warrior of mark, suddenly 
seized him by the arm, saying, — "Thou seest the 
certainty of these archers ; if they aim at the eye they 
hit the eye, if at the mouth they hit the mouth ; what 
wouldest thou think if they were to make thee the 
mark, and shoot at thee ? It was a moment of terrible 
suspense ; but dissembling his fears, Aguilar answered, 
submissively, — "I am your slave, and you may do as 
you please ; but you are too wise to destroy one who is 
so useful and obedient." 

The chief, who seems to have been a great admirer 
of humility, was pleased with the reply, took him into 
his favour, and endeavoured to persuade him to choose 
a wife from among his people. "But," says the Spanish 
historiogi'apher of the Indies, "the ecclesiastic, in obedi- 
ence to his vows, steadily rejected the offer." To refuse 
a wife, however, excited the distrust of the chief, who 
put him through various temptations of a kind similar 
to those by which the devil is said to have assailed the 
good St. Anthony. Like the saint, Aguilar passed 
through the ordeals unscathed, and the chief being now 
satisfied, he made him the master of his household. 
Ultimately, to curry more favour with his master, 
Aguilar prayed to be entrusted with arms, and to be 
enrolled among the warriors, and in this new profession 
he so distinguished himself, that when the Indians who 
brought the ransom an4 letter from Cortes arrived, they 
found him a man of considerable mark among the 
natives. 

The delight, however, with which Aguilar received 
the intelligence that Cortes and his fleet were at hand, 
was damped by fear that the cacique would not permit 



ADVENTUEES OF AGUILAR. 75' 

his departure. To effect his object he determined to 
work upon the terrors of the savages. Thus, holding 
the letter in his hand, he told them that that jt?iece of 
paper brought him information of the arrival of a 
mighty armament, and stating many particulars, such 
as the number of ships — this being confirmed by the 
Indian messengers — the cacique and his warriors 
stared with wonderment at so strange a mode of im- 
parting news ; for having no idea of writing, they could 
not but look upon the letter as some mysterious and 
supernatural agent. Then the cunning Aguilar told 
his wondering listeners that the people in these newly 
arrived ships were armed with supernatural powers; 
that by thunder and lightning they could wreak 
destruction upon their enemies; but, at the same time, 
they could bestow great gifts upon their friends, as a 
proof of which he spread before the cacique the glass 
beads and trinkets which had been sent by Cortes for 
his ransom. The chief, delighted with the orna- 
ments, and greatly awed at the power of the white 
man, begged of Aguilar to act as his ambassador, and 
mediate with these strangers so as to secure their 
friendship. 

We may be sure Aguilar lost no time in proceeding 
on his embassy. Before, however, leaving that part of 
the country, he went in search of his old comrade, 
Guerro, little doubting that he would be as pleased as 
himself at the prospect of rejoining his countrymen. 
But the old sailor had other views; he had settled down 
to a new life, and was surrounded by a wife and family. 

" Brother Aguilar," he replied to the priest's en- 
treaties, " I am married, have three sous, and am a 



76 PEELIMINAHT CONQUESTS. 

cacique and captain of the wars. Go you in God's 
name; my face is marked, and my ears bored: wliat 
would those Spaniards think of me if I went among 
them? Behold these beautiful boys: I beseech you 
give me for them some of these gi'een beads, and say 
that my brother sent them as a present to me from our 
country." 

Aguilar listened with dismay, and continued to ex- 
hort him not to lose his precious soul for the sake of 
an Indian; or if he could not part with her, to bring 
her and his children with him. Here it was the Indian 
princess, now Madame Guerro, interfered, crying in 
her own tongue, — " See this slave, how he comes to 
seduce my husband." 

The lady, however, had no cause for grief: her hus- 
band would not be persuaded to leave the country. So 
Aguilar proceeded on his way to the coast. The reason 
that the flexible conscienced sailor would not quit his 
wife was, I think, more from fear of ridicule than out 
of love for her; for, having resigned all hope of a return 
to civilized life, he had adopted what we may call the 
uniform of a warrior of rank. His face and hands were 
indelibly painted or tattooed; his ears and lips were 
slit, to admit huge Indian ornaments; and his nose 
was drawn down almost to his mouth by a massive 
ring of gold and a dangling jewel. Before quitting 
Guerro I may add, that it was as well for him that he 
did not accompany Aguilar; for, as it afterwards ap- 
peared that it was he who led the Indians to the attack 
upon Grijalva's party, Cortes would assuredly have 
hanged him. It will be remembered that Ordaz had 
orders to remain only eight days upon the coast, to 



THE VOYAGE TO TABASCO. 77 

await the result of the Indian messengers' search for 
the Christian captives. This time having elapsed, the 
captain had left just before Aguilar reached Catoche 
Point. This was a sad blow to the poor fellow, who, 
disconsolately and despairingly, walked along the coast. 
Fortunately, he happened to fall in with a canoe half- 
buried in the sand. At the sight of this it occurred to 
him that Cortes and his fleet might be still lingering at 
the opposite Island of Cozumel. So, with the assistance 
of some natives, who good naturedly helped him, he 
cleared the canoe, set it afloat, and finding the stave of 
a hogshead, left there by Ordaz's party, he adapted it 
as a paddle, and in this frail vessel ventured to cross 
to Cozumel, where, upon their landing, as heretofore 
related, they were seized by the soldiers, and then 
conducted to the presence of Cortes, who was greatly 
pleased at the accession to his ranks of a Spaniard 
whose knowledge of the dialects of the tribes of Yu- 
catan would render him all important as an interpreter. 
Taking leave of the good people of Cozumel, who pro- 
mised to keep intact the altar and cross erected by the 
Spaniards, and to continue faithful to the religion to 
which they had become converts, Cortes proceeded 
along the coast of Yucatan to the mouth of the river 
Tabasco or Crijalva, so named in compliment to the 
latter commander. But, to the great surprise of the 
adventurers, instead of meeting with the kind recep- 
tion given to Grijalva, they found the shores lined 
with armed natives. Cortes ordered Aguilar to de- 
mand the cause of this warlike reception. The reply 
was, that some neighbouring tribes having reproached 
them for receiving Grijalva as a friend, instead of an 



78 PRELIMINARY CONQUESTS. 

enemy, they had determined to take that opportunity 
of retrieving their character, and prove to their neigh- 
bours that they were not deserving of the name of 
cowards. 

Cortes had resolved to visit the town of Tabasco 
itself, some distance up the river; but that evening he 
.deferred any proceedings against the Indians. The 
next morning, however, seeing that the number of 
the enemy had increased considerably, he ordered 
Alonzo de Avila to land with a hundred men some 
distance down the river, at a point sheltered by a 
palm grove, from which, Aguilar informed him, a road 
led to Tabasco, He had further instructions to march 
upon the town from that side, while the main body 
would make the assault from the front. 

Cortes then proceeded to disembark upon the shore 
nearest the town; "But," says Captain Diaz, "the 
enemy, who were in canoes amongst the mangroves, 
perceiving that we were proceeding to the attack, such 
prodigious numbers of them collected at our point of 
disembarkation that nothing was to be seen but armed 
men, nor anything heard except their trumpets, horns, 
and timbrels. Cortes, observing this, commanded a 
halt, and that the firing should not commence; for he 
wished to proceed in a strictly justifiaUe manner. He 
therefore ordered Godoy, a royal notary (who accom- 
panied the expedition to look after the interests of the 
King of Spain), formally (I suppose through the inter- 
preter Aguilar) to require them to permit us to supply 
ourselves with wood and water, and speak to them, as 
we were in duty bound, upon what concerned God and 
the king, warning them that, in case of violence, they 



CORTES TAKES HIS FIRST TOWN. 79 

would be answerable for all miscLief that resulted." 
This proclamation being duly recorded by tbe notary, 
and answered by a fierce onset of tbe natives, Cortes at 
the head of his men disembarked. After a severe 
skirmish, in which he lost a sandal in the mud, he 
continued to fight his way barefooted through the 
natives, who soon recognized him as the leader, and 
cried out to' one another, " Strike at the chief." 
Speedily, however, getting his troops in order, he so 
astonished the enemy by the roar and flash of the 
fire-arms (which they then heard for the first time), 
that they fled backwards to the town, pursued by the 
Spaniards; and as in pursuance of his orders Avila 
attacked from the other side, the town speedily fell 
into their hands ; but the cunning natives had already 
abandoned the place, and taken with them their families 
and efiects. 

This was the first town taken : the victors found 
some provisions, but little gold. It was, however, an 
instalment of the glories and conquests Cortes had 
marked out. He took formal possession for the King 
of Spain — that is, he gave three cuts with his sword, 
upon a large ceiba tree, and proclaimed aloud that he 
took possession of the city in the name and behalf of 
the Catholic sovereign, and would maintain and defend 
the same with sword and buckler against all who 
should gainsay it. This declaration being repeated by 
a soldier, and recorded by the notary, the native Tabas- 
cans were considered by European Christians to have 
become the vassals of Spain, and their land and goods 
the property of a king, of whose country they had no 
notion, and of whose name even they were in ignorance. 



80 PRELIMINARY CONQUESTS. 

Truly it was scarcely a Christian-like way of acquiring 
property ; but then, from the beginning of time, man's 
rule of action has been might against right. Prescott 
prettily tells us that " This was the usual simple but 
Christian form with which the Spanish cavaliers asserted 
the royal title to the conquered territories in the New 
World. It was a good title, doubtless, against the 
claims of any other European potentate." It was by 
just such a title that Philip, the son of Charles Y, 
(Cortes' sovereign), intended to have held the realm 
of England, had his attempted invasion of that country 
by means of the invincible armada proved successful. 

Having possession of the town, Cortes took up his 
quarters in the coui't-yard of the chief temple. He 
posted sentinels in all directions, and took as much 
precaution against a surprise as if he had been at war 
with Europeans, being too wise to judge the strength 
and courage of the natives by the comparative ease 
with which he had seized their capital. It was well 
that he did so ; for tidings were brought to him that the 
Indian interpreter, Melchorejo, had deserted to the 
enemy. This was disquieting news, as this man could 
inform the natives of the real weakness of his army. 
In the morning two detachments, one under Alvarado, 
the other under De Lugo, were sent out to reconnoitre. 
The latter party had a narrow escape; for, about two 
leagues' distance from head quarters, they were attacked 
by a force of Tabascans so numerous that they would 
have been destroyed to a man, but for the yelling and 
screaming of the enemy, which brought Alvarado's 
detachment to the rescue; but even then, so small 
were the united forces of these commanders, that they 



THE BATTLE OF TABASCO. 81 

must have been cut off liad not Cortes opportunely 
come to their aid. 

With so great an enterprise before him as the march to 
Mexico, the Spanish chief had made a great mistake in 
diverging from his course to examine the country up the 
river Grijalvaj but then he had reason to expect that 
he and his party would have met with as good a recep- 
tion as Grijalva. As it was, he found himself cooped 
up in a town, with an increasing multitude of warlike 
and determined Indians, and as the news that the 
Spaniards had been driven back from Tabasco would 
doubtlessly precede him, to take to the ships with- 
out striking a blow would only be to prepare the way 
for further disasters. The general was not one to 
hesitate long; so, calling his officers together, he 
announced his intention of giving the Tabascans battle 
the next morning. 

The news was cheerfully received, the wounded were 
sent on board the ships, six heavy guns and all the 
horses were disembarked, and by the first glimmer of 
day a miniature but complete army of artillery, cavalry, 
and infantry were on the march to a plain called 
Ceutla, a few miles distant, as Cortes had heard that 
the Tabascans were encamped there. The plan of 
battle was for Ordaz to proceed with the artillery and 
infantry direct across the country, and attack the 
enemy in front, while Cortes would take a circuit with 
the horse so as to fall upon his rear. This engage- 
ment, ever memorable in the history of New Spain, 
was fought upon Lady Day, the 25th of March. 
Captain Bernal Diaz, who was present with Ordaz, 
thus describes it : — 



82 PRELIMINARY CONQUESTS. 

" Haying marclied about a league, we saw the enemy 
in the plain in our front advancing against us, sound- 
ing their trumpets, horns, and drums, with plumes of 
feathers on their heads, their faces painted black, red, 
and white; all of them bearing defensive armour of 
quilted cotton, and shields, and their offensive arms 
consisting of large bows and arrows, lances, two- 
handed swords, darts, and slings. Their numbers 
covered the whole plain, and they fell upon us furiously, 
wounding above seventy of our soldiers by the first 
discharge of their missile weapons. One soldier fell 
instantly dead by an arrow which pierced his ear; his 
name was Saldana. The enemy then closed upon and 
fought with us foot to foot, while we with our cannon, 
musketry, cross-bows, and swords, maintained our 
ground firmly. When they had pretty well experi- 
enced the sharpness of our swords they drew off a 
little; but it was only to shoot at us with more 
advantage. Our artillery now, however, made great 
havoc amongst them from the manner in which they 
were crowded together, and they were at that distance 
which enabled us to fire at them with the greatest 
advantage ; but all could not make them give way. 

"I advised Captain de Ordaz to close with them, 
because they seemed to be shy of our swords, and had 
the advantage of their missile weapons when at a little 
distance; but he objected to this, observing that they 
were three hundred to every one of us. However, we 
did advance upon them, and as they were unwilling to 
come within the reach of our swords, they yielded 
ground, and inclined towards a marsh. During all 
this time we were anxiously looking out for Cortes, 



TEREOR OF INDIANS AT SIGHT OF CAVALRY. 83 

and very apprehensive that he had met with some 
disaster. 

" I recollect that in this battle every time that the 
cannon were fired the Indians shouted, whistled, and 
sounded their instruments, throwing up straw and 
dust into the air, and crying, ^Ala, ala.' This they did 
to prevent our perceiving the mischief done by our 
artillery in their crowded bodies. While we were ' 
engaged as I have now described, we were rejoiced at 
the sight of Cortes approaching to our support. As 
the cavalry caine round by the rear of the Indians, 
who were entirely occupied in their attacks upon us, 
the latter did not perceive them until they made their 
charge. The ground being very level, most of the 
horses active, and the men expert, they now rode 
through the bodies of the enemy as they chose, and 
we, encouraged by this support, reiterated our efforts 
on our side. The Indians, struck with surprise, 
thought that the horse and his rider were one. They 
were terrified at the sight, and in an instant fled to 
the adjacent woods and marshes, leaving the field and 
victory to lis." 

If we consider that the victory gained by this small 
band of Europeans was over an army which by all 
writers is admitted to have consisted of forty thousand 
men, we cannot wonder that the piety of contemporary 
historians ascribe it to the direct interposition of 
Heaven, which sent the patron saint of Spain upon his 
gray charger to fight on their side. This miracle is, 
however, very quaintly refuted by the truthful Diaz, 
who piously observes : — 

" In his account of this action Gomara says, that 



84 PRELIMINARY CONQUESTS. 

previous to the arrival of tlie main body of tlie cavalry 
Tinder Cortes, Francisco de Morla appeared in the field 
upon a gray dappled horse, and that it was one of the 
holy apostles, St. Peter or St. Jago, disguised under 
his person. I say, that all our works and victories are 
guided by the hand of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that 
in this battle there were so many enemies to every one 
of us that they could have buried iis imder the dust 
they could have held in their hands, but that the great 
mercy of God aided us throughout. What Gomara 
asserts might be the case, and I, sinner as I am, was 
not worthy to be permitted to see it. What I did see 
was Francisco de Morla riding in company with 
Cortes and the rest upon a chestnut horse ; and that 
circumstance, and all the others of that day, appear to 
me at this moment that I am writing as if actually 
passing in the view of these sinful eyes. But although 
I, unworthy sinner that I am, was unfit to behold 
either of those holy apostles, upwards of four hundred 
of us were present ; let their testimony be taken." 

As the reader will have seen, the Spaniards were 
indebted for their success to the terrors of the Indians, 
who, never having seen a horse before, mistook the 
cavalry for strange supernatural monsters, half beasts 
half men, sent against them by the gods. Again, they 
were astounded at the roaring of the cannon, which at 
every discharge mysteriously sent death into their 
ranks from so great a distance. 

Satisfied with his victory, Cortes did not pursue the 
flying Indians, but drew ofi" his men to a palm grove, 
where they fell upon their knees, and returned thanks 
to Heaven. The battle-field was made the site of a 



SUBMISSION AND CONVERSION OF THE TABASCANS. 85 

town, which, in honour of the day, was named Santa 
Maria de la Yitoria. Two prisoners (caciques) being 
brought before Cortes, he wisely gave them their 
liberty, but commanded them to seek out their country- 
men, and desire them immediately to come and tender 
their submission, otherwise he would ride over their 
land, and put every man, woman, and child, to the 
sword. 

With this message the envoys departed, and very 
speedily the chief caciques, attended by numerous 
vassals, came to the camp, bearing presents of food, 
cotton, and small golden ornaments. The most im- 
portant of the gifts were twenty female slaves, one of 
whom played, as we shall hereafter find, an important 
part in the Mexican conquest. A friendly intercourse 
being established, great numbers of Tabascans were 
converted, to celebrate which a solemn mass was per- 
formed upon Palm Sunday. The soldiers then took 
leave of their Indian friends, entered the boats with 
palm branches in their hands, and descending the river, 
re-embarked on board their ships, which were anchored 
at its mouth, and sailed for the longed-for shores 
of Mexico. 



86 



CHAPTER III. 



THE SPANIARDS ON THE CONTINENT — ALARM OP 
MONTEZUMA. 

At San Juan de XJlua, an island discovered and 
named by Grijalva, the fleet came to an anchor upon 
Thursday in Passion Week. Shortly afterwards a 
party of Indians put off from the mainland, and came 
on board, bringing presents of fruits, flowers, and 
golden ornaments. The chief of these natives was 
evidently a man of rank, and the bearer of a 
message. Cortes, however, could hold no conversation 
with him, for his Indian interpreter had deserted, and 
the dialects understood by Aguilar would not serve to 
hold a conference with the Mexicans or others. In 
this great difficulty he discovered the real value of the 
Indian women presented to him by the Tabascans; 
for one of them was a Mexican, and understood the 
language of the newcomers, as well also as the dialects 
spoken by Aguilar. 

This young slave, who had been baptized by the 
name of Maria, was destined to play a singularly im- 
portant part in the conquest of her native country, 
and to leave a name which is still revered by the 
descendants of the conquerors and conquered. She 
was called by the Aztecs, or Mexicans, Malinche, a 



STORY OF DONA MARINA. 87 

name also given by tliem to Cortes. Her life, up to 
the time of her meeting with the general, had been one 
of trouble and romance. "She was the daughter," 
Bernal Diaz, who knew and revered her, tells us, " of 
the chief or Prince of Painalla, a powerful lord, who 
had several districts subject to him, eight leagues from 
Coatzacualco. He dying while this lady was an 
infant, his widow married another chief, a young man, 
by whom she had a son whom they determined to 
place in succession after them. They, therefore, gave 
this girl to certain Indians of Xicallanco, to carry off 
secretly, and caused it to be rumoured that she was 
dead; which report they corroborated by taking 
advantage of the death of a child about her own age, 
the daughter of a slave. The people of Xicallanco 
gave her to those of Tabasco, and the latter to Cortes, 
by whom she was presented to a cavalier named 
Alonzo Hermandez Puertocarrero. When he went to 
Old Castile, Cortes took her to himself, and had by 
her a son who was named Don Martin Cortes, and 
who was commander of the order of St. Jago. She 
afterwards, on our expedition to Higueras, married 
a cavalier named Juan Haramillo. 

"Dona Marina had by her birth an universal 
influence and consequence through these countries* 
She was of a fine figure, frank manners, prompt genius, 
and intrepid spirit, an excellent linguist, and of most 
essential service to Cortes, whom she always accom- 
panied. I was acquainted with her mother and her 
half-brother, who was at the time I knew him grown 
up. They governed their territory conjointly, the 
second husband being also dead. They were after- 



88 THE SPANIARDS ON THE CONTINENT. 

wards baptized, the motlier by tlie name of Maria, 
the son by the name of Lazarus. This I know ; for in 
the expedition to Higueras and Honduras, when 
Cortes passed through Coatzacualco, he summoned all 
the neighbouring chiefs to meet him in that settle- 
ment ; and amongst many others eame the mother and 
half-brother of Miis lady. She had told me before that 
she was of that province, and in truth she much 
resembled her mother, who immediately recognized her. 
Both the old lady and her son were terrified, thinking 
that they were sent for to be put to death, and cried 
bitterly; but Dona Marina dried their tears, saying 
that she forgave them; that at the time they sent her 
from them they were ignorant of what they did ; and 
that she thanked God, who had taken her from the 
worship of idols to the true church, and was happier 
in having a son by her lord and master, Cortes, and in 
being married to a cavalier like her husband, than if 
she had been sovereign of all the provinces of New 
Spain. All this I heard with my own ears, and swear 
to the truth thereof. Amen. At parting, she gave 
them a very handsome present of gold, and thus dis- 
missed them. This story brings to my mind that of 
Joseph in Egypt, when his brothers were in his power. 
Dona Marina understood the language of Coatzacualco 
and Mexico, which is one and the same ; and as she 
also could converse with Aguilar in that of Tabasco 
and Yucatan, we thus acquired a medium of communi- 
cation with the Mexican language, which was an 
object of great importance to us." 

Cortes was now, by means of Aguilar, who could 
speak Castilian and Tabascan, and Dona Maria, who 



CORTES FIRST HEARS OF MONTEZUMA, 89 

understood Tabascan and Mexican, enabled to con- 
verse with the Mexican chief. Thus he learned that 
the mainland opposite was one of the newly conquered 
provinces of a great empire which was ruled over by a 
mighty monarch, Moetheuzoma, or Montezuma; that 
this powerful prince held his state on the mountain 
plains of the interior, nearly seventy leagues from the 
coast; and that that province was ruled over by one 
of Montezuma's great nobles, named Teuhtlile ; more- 
over, that the country abounded with gold. Delighted 
with the information, Cortes dismissed the natives with 
an assiirance of his good and peaceable intentions, and 
a request that their governor, Teuhtlile, should visit 
him upon his landing. 

Upon Good Friday our little band of conquerors 
first landed upon the mainland. A monument suffi- 
cient to mark the memorable event remains; for, upon 
that then desolate spot now stands the capital of New 
Spain, the great city of Yera Cruz. 

As we shall find hereafter, Cortes was only now 
reaping the fruits of the heroic battle of Tabasco. The 
news of that extraordinary victory had preceded them ; 
for upon their landing the natives flocked to the camp, 
bringing the Spaniards materials with which to build 
their huts, mantles to guard them from the sun, and 
presents of gold, fowls, bread, and plums. 

Upon Easter Sunday took place an interview not 
less remarkable in itself than in its results. The time 
had come for Cortes to gi-atify his pride, vanity, and 
avarice, and also to put forth that tact which won for 
him an empire. Teuhtlile, the governor of the province, 
came at the head of an embassy from Montezuma. We 



90 THE SPANIARDS ON THE CONTINENT. 

can imagine the scene: the little army of infantry, 
cavalry, and artillery drawn up with imposing effect, 
the gorgeous banners displayed; the lines of hardy, 
weatherbeaten, bearded veterans, the solid strength of 
whose ranks seemed impenetrable ; the grim-looking 
cannon, of which report had told such dreadful deeds 
at Tabasco; the steel-clad warriors, who seemed, and 
whom the Tabascans had believed to be inseparable 
from their horses; the flash beneath that hot sun of 
steel, and the prancing of the horses, must have stricken 
with awe the Mexican embassy, as headed by Teuhtlile 
and another great chief, afterwards named Ovandillo, 
it marched in great state to the Christian camp. Cortes, 
having met and welcomed the two chiefs, who paid 
him great reverence, conducted them within his tent. 
Mass having been performed, the chiefs sat down to a 
•repast with the general and his' principal officers; after 
which Teuhtlile demanded who the strangers were, 
their country, and for what purpose they had come to 
that land. Cortes replied, — "He was the subject of 
the greatest monarch in the world (Charles Y.), who, 
having heard of the fame and greatness of the mighty 
Montezuma, had sent him to the Mexican king with 
a present and a. message, which he must deliver in 
person." The Aztec monarch being regarded by his 
subjects as a demi-god, into whose presence none but a 
chosen few could dare to venture, Teuhtlile haughtily 
answered, " How is this 1 You are but just arrived, and 
you talk of seeing our monarch;" but the story of the 
battle of Tabasco flashing across his mind, the remem- 
brance of the terrible cavalry and the dreaded cannon, 
I suppose, must have made him fear to offend the, to 



EXCHANGE OF PEESENTS. 91 

him, god-like possessor of such power; for in softer 
tones Teuhtlile expressed his astonishment at hearing 
that there could be a monarch in the world so powerful 
as Montezuma, adding that, if it were so, his sovereign 
would be glad to receive him. He would, therefore, 
at once send to Montezuma the present Cortes had 
brought from Spain, and also endeavour to learn his 
will. The Mexican noble then ordered some of his 
suite to bring forward some gifts Montezuma had sent 
for the Spanish chief These were but ill calculated 
to make the Spaniards forego their desire to visit the 
capital. They consisted of ten loads of fine cotton, 
several mantles of the beautiful painted featherwork 
of the countrv, and a large basket filled with orna- 
ments of wrought gold. In return for these gracious 
gifts Cortes ordered his soldiers to lay before the chief 
the presents designed for the Mexican emperor. These 
consisted of an arm-chair elegantly carved and painted, 
some artificial jewels called margaritas, enveloped in 
perfumed cotton, and a crimson cap with a gold medal, 
whereon was represented St. George killing the dragon. 
Teuhtlile accepted these things with the show, if not 
the real feeling, of gratitude; but, noticing a gilded 
helmet worn by one of the soldiers, he expressed a 
wish to take it to his emperor, saying that it re- 
sembled one worn by the god Quetzalcoatl in Mexico. 
As we shall see hereafter, there was a deep purpose in 
this request. Cortes also saw an object in complying — 
an object unworthy of so great a man; for it was only 
a means of gratifying his avarice. He commanded the 
soldier to give his helmet to Teuhtlile, at the same 
time telling that chief, " It would please him much ii 



92 THE SPANIARDS ON THE CONTINENT. 

his master would return the headgear filled with gold 
dust, as he should like to compare it with the metal of 
his own country; adding, also, that the Spaniards were 
subject to a disease of the heart which gold alone could 
cure." Surely, after the generous presents he had re- 
ceived, this was but the avarice of a greedy school-boy. 

During this long conference Cortes had observed 
one of the attendants of Teuhtlile busily engaged with 
a pencil, and being informed the man was endeavour- 
ing to portray the scene for tbe gratification of the 
emperor's curiosity, he determined that so favourable 
an opportunity of terrorizing his majesty should not 
be lost. He at once ordered his captains to put the 
troops through a variety of imposing evolutions. At 
the close he had no reason to regret this determination. 
The steady, yet rapid movements of the men, the ease 
with which the horsemen managed their animals, the 
flashing of their swords, the screaming of the trumpets, 
filled the Aztecs with wonder; but the cowp de theatre 
was to come. Cortes, as if by accident, pointing out 
the great guns to the ambassador, they were at that 
instant discharged. The clouds of smoke, the flashing 
flame, the roar and the rushing of the stone balls as 
they dashed through the trees of the neighbouring 
forest, crushing into fragments the branches, terrified 
and confounded even Teuhtlile, who had warily en- 
deavoured not to appear surprised. 

Wonderfully faithful, we are told, was the work of 
the Mexican artist. Nothing was wanted to complete 
the picture; the portraits of Cortes, the principal 
captains. Dona Maria, Aguilar; the ships as they 
lay in the bay (water-houses as they called them), 



AN EMBASSY FROM MONTEZUMA. 93 

the horses, the guns, and even the cannon balls were 
all portrayed to the astonishment of the Spaniards. 
This was the drawing that was to please the eye and 
grieve the heart of the great Montezuma. "Never, 
perhaps, in the history of the world," writes Arthur 
Helps, "was there brought to a monarch such a 
picture of the destruction that impended over his 
kingdom. The awful writing in the hall of Belshazzar 
was not more significant than this picture would have 
been to Montezuma could_he rightly have aj^preciated 
all that it depicted." 

The review being over, Teuhtlile took leave of 
Cortes, promising to return speedily with Montezuma's 
answer. The other chief took up his residence near 
the camp of the Christians, for the purpose of seeing 
that his people supplied them with provisions, and 
all things necessary for their comfort. 

So complete was the system of posts throughout the 
empire, that although the capital was seventy leagues 
from the coast, Cortes was only kept seven days 
awaiting the emperor's answer. At the end of that 
tim-e Teuhtlile returned, accompanied by two great 
nobles, and a hundred slaves, bearing some more 
presents from Montezuma. A proof of the fidelity 
of the Mexican artist was, that one of the lords who 
accompanied Teuhtlile had been selected by Montezuma 
for the great likeness which he bore to the portrait of 
Cortes — a likeness, by the way, so readily recognized 
by the Spanish soldiers, that they for ever afterwards 
named him the Mexican Cortes. The efiect upon the 
Mexican monarch's fears was shown by the presents, 



94 THE SPANIARDS ON THE CONTINENT. 

the very sight of whicli might well send the gi'eedy 
adventurers wild with joy and raptures they found 
impossible to conceal. 

" On entering the general's pa^dlion, the ambassadors 
saluted him and his officers with the usual signs of 
reverence to persons of great consideration, touching 
the ground with their hands, and then carrying them 
to their heads, while the air was filled with clouds of 
incense, which rose up from the censers borne by their 
attendants. Some delicately wrought mats of the 
country {petates) were then unrolled, and on them 
the slaves displayed the various articles they had 
brought They were of the most miscellaneous kind; 
shields, helmets, cuirasses, embossed with plates and 
ornaments of pure gold; collars and bracelets of the 
same metal; sandals, fans, panaches, and crests of varie- 
gated feathers, intermingled with gold and silver 
thread, and sprinkled with pearls and precious stones; 
imitations of birds and animals, in wrought and cast 
gold and silver of exquisite workmanship; curtains, 
coverlets, and robes of cotton, fine as silk, of rich 
and various dyes, interwoven with featherwork that 
rivalled the delicacy of painting. There were more 
than thirty loads of cotton cloth in addition. Among 
the articles was the Spanish helmet sent to the capital, 
and now returned filled to the brim with grains of gold. 
Bat the things which excited the most admiration 
were two circular plates of gold and silver, as ^ large 
as carriage- wheels.' One, representing the sun, was 
richly carved with plants and animals, no doubt " 
denoting the Aztec century. It was thirty palms in 



A MAGNIFICENT GIFT. 95 

circumference, and was valued at twenty thousand 
2)esos de oro (about £52,500). The silver wheel, of the 
same size, weighed fifty marks." 

The inspection of this gorgeous gift made Cortes 
more desirous of visiting the capital. His mortification 
was therefore great when the ambassadors politely 
told him their emperor had refused to receive him. 
" But Cortes, who was not the man to take a refusal, 
received this message with apparent good humour, 
and presented each of the ambassadors with Holland 
shirts and other articles of small value, but replied 
by observing that, after having crossed such a vast 
space of sea, he could not return without executing 
the mission which he was sent upon, which was to see 
and speak to the Emperor Montezuma in person. Such 
being the orders of the great monarch, he was com- 
pelled and determined to obey. The ambassadors 
replied that they would convey his message, but gave 
no hopes of a favourable answer. Out of our poor 
means Cortes contrived to send them a second present; 
it consisted of a glass cup of Venetian manufacture, 
curiously gilt and wrought with figures, three Holland 
shirts, and some other articles." 

During the absence of the ambassadors the Mexicans 
had grown cold towards the Spaniards, for the camp 
supplies became much diminished; moreover, the efiects 
of the sickly climate had been such that thirty of the 
men died. Cortes therefore sent Francisco de Montejo 
with two vessels in search of a better port for the 
shipping, and more suitable quarters for the men. 

In ten days the ambassadors again returned, bringing 
more gifts ; but a command from Montezuma that now 

H 



^6 THE SPANIARDS ON THE CONTINENT. 

tliey had obtained those things they required, they 
were to leave Mexico and never retm-n. Cortes 
received this message with apparent courtesy; but we 
may well imagine the resolve in his proud soul, as, 
turning to one of his officers, he said, — "Truly this 
is a great and powerful prince; yet it shall go hard 
with us but we will one day visit him in his capital.'* 
As Cortes spoke, the bell tolled for the Ave Maria, 
and the soldiers fell upon their knees, and offered up 
their orisons before the cross planted in the sands. 
The astonished Aztecs desired to know the meaning of 
this, whereupon, says Diaz, " Cortes hinted to the 
Father Olmedo the propriety of a sermon, such as 
should convey to them the truths of our holy faith. 
Father Olmedo accordingly preached, like an excellent 
theologian, which he was, explaining the mysteries 
of the cross, at the sight of which the evil beings they 
worshipped as gods fled away. These subjects, and 
much more, he dilated uj)on; and it was perfectly 
explained to, and understood by, the Mexicans, who 
promised that they would relate all they had seen and 
heard to their sovereign. He also declared to them, 
that amongst the principal objects of our mission 
thither, were those of putting a stop to human sacri- 
fices, injustices, and idolatrous worship; and then, 
presenting them with an image of oui' Holy Yirgin 
with her son in her arms, he desired them to take 
it with them, to venerate it, and to plant crosses 
similar to that before them in their temjoles." 

The good father's preaching was unsuccessful; for 
the ambassadors withdrew in anger, and the following 
morning the Spaniards found themselves alone in a 



ALARM OF THE SPANIARDS. 97 

desolate wilderness cut off from all supplies. During 
the night the whole Mexican party had taken their 
departure. Alarmed at this unfriendly movement, 
Cortes prepared for an attack upon his quarters. 
It afterwards appeared, however, that hostilities were 
not intended. The Aztec monarch had ordered the 
movement with the hope of thus driving the invaders 
back to their ships. 

In this dilemma Montejo returned, bringing news 
that about twelve leagues along the coast he had 
found a good port for the ships, and a favourable spot 
for the encampment of the army. The Mexican 
name of this place was Chiahuitztla : it became the 
site of Cortes' town of Yilla Hica Vera Cruz (the 
rich city of the true cross). 

A crisis had now arrived in the fortunes of Cortes. He 
desired to depart immediately for Chiahuitztla, there to 
encamp. A great portion of the army, especially the 
faction of Yelasquez, were determined to return and re- 
port to the Governor of Cuba what had been done. This 
feeling being entertained by a party so strong and power- 
ful, the general could not altogether disregard it j still 
the dilemma was perplexing. To return to Cuba after 
having so openly set Yelasquez at defiance would be 
but to court a trial for mutiny and treason; while to 
remain and attempt the conquest of the empire would 
be impossible, without the entire concurrence of his 
whole army. To gain time, therefore, he evaded their 
requests, saying, " So far all has gone well ; when we 
have taken up a better position I have no doubt that 
we may still continue a profitable intercourse with the 
natives." He referred only to the wealth to be gained 



98 THE SPANIAKDS ON THE CONTINENT. 

by barter. Had lie then declared bis intention of 
conquest be would bave been branded as a madman. 

In tbe midst of his dilemma five Indians came to bis 
camp. Tbeir dress and appearance were different from 
tbe Mexicans. Tbey wore rings of gold and gems of 
a bright blue stone in their ears and nostrils, while a 
gold leaf was attached to the under lip. They informed 
Cortes they were natives of Cempoalla, the capital of a 
nation called the Totonacs; that their cacique had sent 
them to congratulate him on his arrival, and to beg 
him to visit Cempoalla. They further informed Cortes 
that their country had recently been conquered and 
added to the empire of Montezuma, whom they bated. 
This was refreshing news to the wily Spaniard, whose 
quick mind at once saw that the Mexican empire was 
composed of antagonistic races, which, if encouraged in 
their hatred for each other, might be made to help him 
to the conquest of their common country. He there- 
fore dismissed these men with a message to their chief, 
that he would speedily visit him in his capital. The 
general then took council with his personal friends, 
De Alvarado and his brothers, Puertocarrero, De 
Olid, and De Avila, as to the means by which he 
might, with some show of legality, change the whole 
tenor of the instructions he bad received from Velas- 
quez, and persuade those men, so clamorous for a 
return to Cuba, to join him heart and will in march- 
ing to Mexico. 

Thus had the chief officers of the army become 
divided into two factions, the one in the interest of 
the Governor Yelasquez, bent upon returning to Cuba; 
the other devoted to Cortes, and resolved to risk their 



AUTFUL POLICY OF CORTES. 99 

lives and fortunes under the general's banner. To 
amalgamate tlie two, tlie friends of Cortes secretly- 
canvassed the soldiers. "To return to Cuba now," 
said they, " would be to abandon an enterprise which, 
under such a leader, must lead to glory and abundant 
riches, and to surrender to the greedy Yelasquez the 
little gains we have already obtained. It is true, 
Cortes has no power from the governor to colonize the 
country; but then the interests of the sovereigns of 
Spain* demand that it should be done. Let us, there- 
fore, persuade the general at once to establish a per- 
manent colony, the government of which will take the 
conduct of affairs in its own hands, and provide for the 
interests of its members." This intrigue coming to 
the ears of the friends of Yelasquez, they went to the 
general, and accusing him of being the instigator of an 
insidious and disloyal scheme, insisted upon an imme- 
diate return to Cuba. Cortes, who had thoroughly 
studied his part, courteously listened to this haughty 
remonstrance, and answered "That nothing was further 
from his desire than to exceed his instructions. It 
was true he should prefer to remain in the country, 
and continue his profitable intercourse with the 
natives; but since the army thought otherwise he 
should defer to their opinions." The next morning 
he issued orders for the troops to embark on board 
the fleet, which was to return to Cuba. This decision 
had the desired efiect; it caused a great sensation 
among those of his own faction. They gathered around 
his tent, and clamoured for him to rescind these orders. 

• The sovereigns here alluded to were the Emperor Charles the Fifth 
and his mother Joanna, 



100 THE SPANIARDS ON THE CONTINENT. 

" We came here," said they, " expecting to form a 
settlement if the state of the conntrj authorized it. 
Now, it seems you have no "wai'rant from the governor 
to make one. But there are interests higher than 
those of Yelasquez which demand it. These territories 
are not his property, but were discovered for the 
sovereigns; and it is necessary to plant a colony to 
watch over their interests, instead of wasting time in 
idle barter, or, still worse, of returning in the present 
state of affairs to Cuba. If you refuse," they con- 
cluded, "we shall protest against your conduct as 
disloyal to their highnesses." Cortes received this 
remonstrance with affected embarrassment, and desired 
time for consideration. The result was, of course, his 
acquiescence in the wishes of his own party. Accord- 
ingly, he proceeded to establish a colony in the name of 
the Spanish sovereigns, and to name the requisite 
magistrates. For the alcaldes he chose Puertocarrero 
and Montejo, the former devoted to himself, the latter 
the friend of Yelasquez, chosen for that reason — a wise 
policy. Having appointed all the other functionaries 
necessary to form the government of a Spanish city, 
they were formally sworn into office, and the new city 
received the name of Yilla Rica de Yera Cruz (the 
rich town of the true cross). Thus this band of 
adventurers was suddenly transformed from an army 
into a civil body, under the rule of a regular govern- 
ment, before even the site of the city had been marked 
out. 

The new municipality having met in solemn con- 
clave, Cortes appeared before it, cap in hand, and 
tendered the resignation of his captain-generalship, 



FOUNDING OF THE CITY OF VERA CRUZ. 101 

"Which, indeed/' he said, "had necessarily expired, 
since the authority of the Governor of Cuba, who 
bestowed it, was now superseded by the power of the 
magistracy of Yilla Rica de Yera Cruz." Then, with 
a profound bow, he left the new authorities to their 
deliberations. 

Thus artfully did Cortes relieve himself from the 
authority of the jealous Yelasquez, and transfer into 
other hands responsibilities which might have had 
dangerous results: at least, he had now, to use a 
homely proverb, got the army to row in the same 
boat with him. If he were guilty of treason, he no 
longer stood alone. The council, as may be well 
imagined, lost no time over their deliberations. 
"There was no one," they said, "who, on mature 
reflection, appeared to them so well qualified to take 
charge of the interests of the community, both in 
peace and in war, as himself; and they unanimously 
named him, in behalf of their Catholic highnesses, 
captain-general and chief-justice of the colony. He 
was further empowered to draw, on his own account, 
one-fifth of the gold and silver which might hereafter 
be obtained by commerce or conquest from the natives." 
These extraordinary proceedings took the faction of 
Yelasquez entirely by surprise, and so mutinous a 
spirit did Yelasquez de Leon, Escobar, and Diego de 
Ordaz exhibit, that the general at once had them 
placed in irons. The fitness of the man for his 
position was in no part of his career better shown 
than in the rapidity with which he gained the discon- 
tented over to his cause. Promises, and even gold, 
were liberally lavished, till gradually they fell into his 



102 THE SPANIARDS ON THE CONTINENT. 

ranks with a will ; and when a party of the brethren 
returned from a forage with an abundant supply of 
poultry and vegetables, good humour returned with 
good cheer, "and," says Prescott, "the rival factions 
embraced one another as companions in arms pledged 
to a common cause. Even the high-mettled hidalgos 
on board the vessels did not long withstand the general 
tide of reconciliation, but one by one gave in their 
adhesion to the new government. What is more 
remarkable is, that this forced conversion was not a 
hollow one; but from this time forward several of these 
very cavaliers became the most steady and devoted par- 
tisans of Cortes. Such was the address of this extra- 
ordinary man, and such the ascendency which in a few 
.months he had acquired over these wild and turbulent 
spirits ! By this ingenious transformation of a military 
into a civil community he had secured a new and effec- 
tual basis for future operations. He might now go 
forward without fear of check or control from a su- 
perior, at least from any superior than the crown, 
under which alone he held his commission. In accom- 
plishing this, instead of incurring the charge of usurpa- 
tion, or of transcending his legitimate powers, he had 
ti'ansferred the responsibility, in a great measure, to 
those who had imposed on him the necessity of action. 
By this step, moreover, he had linked the fortunes of 
his followers indissolubly with his own. They had 
taken their chance with him, and, whether for weal or 
for woe, must abide the consequences. He was no 
longer limited to the narrow concerns of a sordid 
traffic, but, sure of their co-operation, might now 
boldly meditate, and gradually disclose, those lofty 



MAECH TO CEMPOALLA, 103" 

sdiemes which he had formed in his own bosom for 
the conquest of an empire." 

Having thus welded into a compact body the dis- 
cordant elements by which he had been so recently 
surrounded, and by means of his own strong will and 
genius breathed into it a portion of his indomitable 
spirit, Cortes shipped his great guns, and ordered the 
fleet to proceed round the coast to Chiahuitztla, while 
with the army he started for the same place, tra- 
versing some miles of dreary plains, intending to visit 
Cempoalla, whose lord, as we have seen, had invited 
him to his capital. But for the better understanding 
of many important events which happened to the army 
on its march, it is necessary that we should know some- 
thing, not only of that golden capital, for the conquest 
of which such a fierce passion was burning in the heart 
of Cortes, but also of Montezuma, a monarch whose 
presents to the invaders bespoke his wealth as weU as 
his fears, and who was then moving heaven and earth 
to retard the march of the Spaniards. 



104 



CHAPTEE TV, 



THE STORY OF AITAHUAC. 



Compared with, tlie republic of Mexico^ as now sTiown 
upon tlie map of North America, the empire of 
Montezuma was but a small territory, reaching from 
about the eighteenth degree north latitude, to the 
twenty-first on the Atlantic, and from the fourteenth 
to the nineteenth on the Pacific, while its greatest 
breadth did not exceed five degrees and a-half, dwind- 
ling as it approached its south-eastern limits to less 
than two. Yet such is the remarkable formation of 
this country, that, though not more than twice as large 
as New England, it presented every variety of climate, 
and was capable of yielding nearly every fruit found 
between the equator and the arctic circle. 

From the sea-board at Chiahuitztla (to which place 
we have seen Cortes about to repair), there is one con- 
tinuous rise until, reaching the walls of Mexico, the 
traveller finds he is at an elevation of 7,500 feet 
above the level of the sea; hence the three different 
and distinct climates, — the tierra caliente, or hot 
region, which produces the vegetation of the tropics, 
and the deadly v6mito, or bilious fever, so fatal to 
Europeans; the tierra templada, or temperate region, 
which has all the character and aspect of the temperate 



THE EARLIER HEROES OF ANAHUAC. 105 

zone of tlie globe — mighty mountains, once gleaming 
witli volcanic fires, and still resplendent in their mantles 
of snow, which serve as beacons to the mariner; still 
higher we come to the tierra fria, or cold region, the 
last of the three great natural terraces into which the 
country is divided. Having thus reached a height of 
between seven and eight thousand feet, we are upon the 
summit of the Cordillera of the Andes — the colossal 
range that, after traversing South America and the 
Isthmus of Darien, spreads out, as it enters Mexico, into 
that vast sheet of table-land, which maintains an eleva- 
tion of more than six thousand feet for the distance of 
nearly two hundred leagues, until it gradually declines 
in the higher latitudes of the north. 

The valley of Mexico is situated about mid-way 
across the continent, rather nearer the Pacific than the 
Atlantic Ocean. It is oval in form, and about sixty- 
seven leagues in circumference, and encompassed by 
a towering rampart of rock. One-tenth part of the 
valley is taken up by five lakes, on the opposite 
border of the largest of which stood the great cities of 
Mexico and Tezcuco, the capitals of the two most 
flourishing states of Anahuac. 

This Anahuac, a word signifying " near the waters," 
was the ancient name of nearly the whole of the 
country now marked upon the map as New Spain. 
Several races occupied this territory prior to the 
Mexicans or Aztecs, the most remarkable of whom, as 
far as we know, were the Toltecs, a people who came 
from the north about the close of the seventh century. 
These people seem to have approached a high state of 
civilization ; for they were well instructed in agriculture 



106 THE STORY OF ANAHUAC. 

and many of the most useful mechanical arts; "wei'e^ 
nice workers in metals; invented the complex arrange- 
ment of time adopted by the Aztecs ; " in short," says 
the historian, " were the true fountains of the civiliza- 
tion which distinguished this part of the continent in 
later times. They established their capital at Tula, 
north of the Mexican valley, and the remains of 
extensive buildings were to be discerned there at the 
time of the conquest. The noble ruins of religious and 
other edifices, still to be seen in various parts of I^ew 
Spain, are referred to this people, whose name, Toltec, 
has passed into a synonym for architect. Their 
shadowy history reminds us of those primitive races 
who preceded the ancient Egyptians in the march of 
civilization; fragments of whose monuments, as they 
are seen at this day, incorporated with the buildings of 
the Egyptians themselves, give to these latter the 
appearance of almost modern constructions. 

" After a period of four centuries, the Toltecs, who 
had extended their sway over the remotest borders of 
Anahuac, having been gi-eatly reduced, it is said, by 
famine, pestilence, and unsuccessful wars, disappeared 
/rom the land as silently and mysteriously as they had 
entered it. A few of them still lingered behind, but 
much the greater number probably spread over the 
region of Central America and the neighbouring isles; 
and the traveller now speculates on the majestic ruins 
of Mitla and Palenque as possibly the work of this 
extraordinary people. 

"After the lapse of about a century the deserted 
country was entered by the Chichamecs, a people so 
rude and barbarous that, as their name is said to 



THE AZTECS. 107 

Bignify, they burrowed in caves. After these came 
races of a higher order in the human scale — the 
Tepanecs, the Aztecs or Mexicans, and the Acolhuans 
or Tezcucans. For a length of time the last two 
races seem to have becD about equal in power and 
number in Anahuac. Indeed, virtually of the same 
Aztec origin, they acted as confederate nations, and 
together subdued the whole of the various tribes 
scattered over Anahuac; but the empire had nevfer 
been so great or powerful as at the time of the 
ari'ival of the Spaniards; for then the two nations 
had but one supreme head, viz., as he is called by the 
Spanish writers, the great Montezuma." 

The Aztecs are supposed to have received the germ 
of their future civilization from the few Toltecs still 
remaining in the country upon their arrival. Be that, 
however, as it may, the conquerors, who had hitherto 
in the New World met nothing but naked savages, 
were astonished to find a people (if we except one 
barbarous and revolting custom, of which we shall 
read enough hereafter) but little less advanced than 
the great nations of the east. 

The government was an elective monarchy, the 
sovereign being always chosen from one family; but 
the candidate must have distinguished himself in 
war. The monarch was installed with great pomp 
.and religious ceremony, in the midst of which a 
crown resembling a mitre, ornamented with gold, 
precious gems, and feathers, was placed upon his head 
by the Lord of Tezcuco, the chief prince of the empire. 
The sovereign resided in a magnificent palace con- 
taining, as in Asiatic countries, great halls for his 
council and magistrates. 



108 THE STORY OF ANAHUAC. 

There were institutions strongly resembling the 
feudal system then in vogue in Europe. Eor instance, 
there were thirty great caciques, who lived a portion 
of the year in the capital, each of whom could, at the 
emperor's command, muster 100,000 vassals, and by 
this tenure the lords, great and small, held their lands. 
They possessed a regular system of laws, which were 
administered by judges who held their offices indepen- 
dent of the sovereign, and from whose decision there 
was no appeal. There can be no greater proof of the 
high state of civilization of these people than the 
account given of their tribunals by Prescott on the 
authority of the Spanish and Mexican historians. 

" The judges wore an appropriate dress, and attended 
to business both parts of the day, dining always, for the 
sake of despatch, in an apartment of the same building 
where they held their session — a method of proceeding 
much commended by the Spanish chroniclers, to whom 
despatch was not very familiar in their own tribunals. 
Officers attended to preserve order, and others sum- 
moned the parties and produced them in court. No 
counsel was employed; the parties stated their own 
case, and supported it by their witnesses; the oath 
of the accused was also admitted in evidence. The 
statement of the case, the testimony, and the pro- 
ceedings of the trial, were all set forth by a clerk in 
hieroglyphical paintings, and handed over to the court. 
The paintings were executed with so much accuracy 
that, in all suits respecting real property, they were 
allowed to be produced as good authority in the 
Spanish tribunals very long after the conquest, and 
a chair for their study and interpretation was estab- 
lished at Mexico in 1553, which has long since shared 



AZTEC CIVILIZATION. 109 

tlie fate of most oilier provisions for learning in that 
unfortunate country. 

" A capital sentence was indicated by a line traced 
with an arrow across the portrait of the accused. In 
Tezcuco, where the king presided in the court, this, 
according to the national chronicler, was done with 
extraordinary parade. His description, which is of 
rather a poetical cast, I give in his own words, — ' In 
the royal palace of Tezcuco was a court-yard, on the 
opposite sides of which were two halls of justice. In 
the principal one, called the "tribunal," was a throne 
of pure gold inlaid with turquoises and other precious 
stones. On a stool in front was placed a human skull, 
crowned with an immense emerald of a pyramidal form, 
and surmounted by an aigrette of brilliant plumes and 
precious stones. The skull was laid on a heap of 
military weapons, shields, quivers, bows, and arrows. 
The walls were hung with tapestry made of the hair 
of different wild animals, of rich and various colours, 
festooned by gold rings, and embroidered with figures 
of birds and flowers. Above the throne was a canopy 
of variegated plumage, from the centre of which shot 
forth resplendent rays of gold and jewels. The other 
tribunal, called " the King's," was also surmounted by 
a gorgeous canopy of feathers, on which were em- 
blazoned the royal arms. Here the sovereign gave 
public audience, and communicated his despatches. 
But when he decided important causes, or confirmed a 
capital sentence, he passed to the " Tribunal of God," 
attended by the fourteen great lords of the realm, 
marshalled according to their rank. Then, putting on 
his mitred crown, incrusted with precious stones, and 



110 THE STORY OF ANAHUAC. 

holding a golden arrow by way of sceptre in his left 
hand, he laid his right upon the skull, and pro- 
nounced judgment.' " 

The laws for the protection of persons and property 
were numerous; even intemperance and prodigality 
were punishable. Slavery existed amongst them, yet 
no person could be born to slavery. The form in 
which the taxes or tribute was paid will serve to 
exhibit the state of their manufactures and products. 
They consisted of such articles as cotton dresses and 
mantles of featherwork exquisitely made; ornamented 
armour, vases, and plates of gold; gold dust, beads, 
and bracelets; crystal, gilt, and varnished jars, and 
■ goblets; bells, coins, and utensils of copper; reams 
of paper, grain, fruits, copal, amber, cochineal, cacao, 
wild animals, and birds, timber, lime, mats, &c. 

Their system of posts seems to have been similar 
to that in vogue among the Chinese. *' Post-houses 
were established on the great roads, about two leagues 
distant from each other. The courier, bearing his 
despatches in the form of a hieroglyphical painting, ran 
with them to the first station, from whence they were 
taken by another messenger and carried forward to 
the next, and so on till they reached the capital. 
These couriers, trained from childhood, travelled 
with incredible swiftness: not four or five leagues 
an hour, as an old chronicler would make us believe; 
but with such speed that despatches were carried from 
one to two hundred miles a-day. Fresh fish was 
frequently served at Montezuma's table in twenty- 
four hours from the time it had been taken in the 
Gulf of Mexico, two hundred miles from the capital. 



AZTEC CIVILIZATION. Ill 

In this way intelligence of the movements of the 
royal armies was rapidly brought to court; and the 
dress of the courier, denoting by its colour the nature 
of his tidings, spread joy or consternation in the towns 
through which he passed." 

But what is more remarkable, in all the principal 
cities were to be found hospitals for the cure of the 
sick, and the permanent refage of the disabled soldier, 
" and surgeons were placed over them, who," satirically 
observes a Spaniard, " were so far better than those in 
Europe that they did not protract the cure in order 
to increase the pay." 

From the foregoing brief view of the civil life and 
institutions of the Aztecs, how pleasingly astonished 
are we to find a civilized people, with all the germs 
even of greatness, where, like the Spaniards, we had 
anticipated to have found a race of mere savages ! Pro- 
portionate will be the sorrow and indignation of my 
reader at another side of the picture. As we have 
seen them, we could execrate the invaders who, as 
a people, rooted them from the face of the earth. 
As we shall now see them, we must, notwithstand- 
ing the excuses made for them by historians, even 
the amiable and accomplished Prescott, lose not only 
all sympathy with their misfortunes, but rejoice that 
the rapacious Spaniard was successful in erasing from 
the earth a blot which shamed all humanity. That 
blot was the practice of sacrificing human beings 
before the altars of their hideous idols. Tliis horrible 
rite has, it is true, been practised in many nations. 
In Anahuac, however, the smallest computation makes 
the number of yearly victims to have been 20,000, 
I 



112 THE STORY OF ANAHUAC. 

the largest 50,000, — it is probably between tbe two. 
At almost every town through which the conquerors 
passed they released many who were caged and prepar- 
ing for immolation. Truthful old Captain Diaz tells 
us that in one temple he and his companions counted 
130,000 human skulls, it being the custom to pre- 
serve these relics in places appropriated for the pur- 
pose. Yet the most revolting portion of the rite 
has to be told. First, however, let us examine the 
nature of the religion which could have led to such 
abominable and wicked practices. 

This religion was an extraordinary compound of 
good and evil, of inspiration and superstition. In 
some respects it bore a remarkable resemblance to 
Christianity, but for the greater part partook of the 
worst form of idolatry. The Aztecs believed in the 
existence of a supreme Creator of the universe. They 
addressed him in their prayers as " the God by 
whom we live;" "omnipresent, that knoweth all 
thoughts, and giveth all gifts;" "without whom 
man is as nothing;" "invisible, incorporeal, one God 
of 'perfect perfection and purity;" "under whose wings 
we find repose and a sure defence." In the ceremony 
of naming their children the lips and bosom of the 
infant were sprinkled with water, and "the Lord 
was implored to permit the holy drops to wash 
away the sin that was given to it before the foun- 
dation of the world, so that the child might be born 
anew." 

Is it not almost incredible that a people upon whom 
even these rays of light had gleamed should at the 
same time adore a multitude of divinities ? Of the 



HUMAN" SACRIFICES. 113 

latter we are told they had thirteen chief, and two 
hundred inferior, to each of whom some especial day 
was appropriated. The head of these was Huitzilo- 
potchli, the Mexican Mars. He was the tutelary 
deity of the nation. His temple was the most stately, 
his altars the most numerous. To supply liis heca- 
tombs the warriors were taught not to slay their 
enemies, but to make captives. Sometimes the only 
casus belli between two tribes was for the purpose of 
taking prisoners for sacrifice. When the emperor 
was asked why he, so powerful a prince, permitted 
the existence of this kind of warfare upon the borders 
of his little republic of Tlascala, he characteristically 
replied, " That it might supply him with victims for 
the gods." 

The priesthood was as numerous nearly as in Budd- 
hist countries; how numerous we may imagine from 
the fact that 5,000 were attached to the chief temple in 
the capital. There were several hundreds of these tem- 
ples — " Teocallis " (houses of God) in each city. The 
greater part consisted of solid masses of earth, cased 
with brick or stone. In form they were pyramidal, 
the bases of some being more than a hundred feet 
square, arising in five stories to a great height, each 
smaller than the lower one. At every story there 
was a terrace, which served as a resting-place during 
the ascent, which was reached by a staircase passing 
round the building. The top was a broad area, on 
which were two lofty towers. These were the sanctu- 
aries in which were enshrined the sacred images of the 
presiding deities. Before these stood the dreadful 
stone of sacrifice, and two altars, on which fires were 



114 THE STORY OF AXAHUAC. 

continually burning. Historians inform us there 
were 600 of these altars within the enclosure of the 
great temple of Mexico, which, with those on the 
sacred edifices in other parts of the city, shed a 
brilliant illumination over its streets through the 
darkest nights. One may imagine with what loathing 
and horror the Spaniards first passed through the 
gloom upon these ever burning lights, as they remem- 
bered the revolting rites so frequently celebrated 
beneath their rays. 

I would gladly avoid any further description of these 
abominations; but to do so would be to leave the 
reader in ignorance of an institution which afifected the 
very maiTow of the Aztec character, influenced the 
fate of the empire, and which alone extenuates, if any- 
thing can do so, the deeds of the rapacious and in 
many instances almost as bloody Spaniards. 

Many opportunities were taken for the performance of 
these sacrifices. The cliief, not as regards the number 
of victims, but in religious importance, was the festival 
in honour of Tezcatlipoca (the Mexican Jupiter), por- 
trayed as being of singular beauty. A year prior to this 
festival the handsomest of the captives was selected to 
represent him. He was placed under certain tutors, 
who instructed him how to perform his part with 
grace and dignity. He was arrayed in a magnificent 
dress, regaled with incense and a profusion of sweet- 
scented flowers; royal pages were appointed to attend 
upon him; as he passed through the streets the 
people prostrated themselves, and did him homage as 
the representative of their good deity; four of the 
most beautiful girls were given to him for wives ; and 



MODE OF SACRIFICE. 115 

tlie greatest nobles feasted liim at tlieir tables, paying 
Mm tlie homage of a divinity. 

These months of wretched mockery having passed, he 
was stripped of his gorgeous apparel, placed in one of 
the king's barges, and taken across the lake to a 
temple which stood on its margin, where thousands of 
Mexicans were awaiting to see the ceremony. "As 
the sad procession wound up the sides of the pyramid, 
the unhappy victim threw away his gay chaplets of 
flowers, and broke in pieces the musical instruments 
with which he had solaced the long hours of captivity. 
On the summit he was received by six priests, whose 
long and matted locks flowed disorderly over their 
sable robes, covered with hieroglyphic scrolls of mystic 
import. They led him to the sacrificial stone, a huge 
block of jasper, with its upper surface somewhat con- 
vex. On this the prisoner was stretched. Five priests 
secured his head and his limbs; while the sixth, clad 
in a scarlet mantle, emblematic of his bloody office, 
dexterously opened the breast of the wretched victim 
with a sharp razor of itztli — a volcanic substance hard as 
flint,— and inserting his hand in the wound, tore out 
the palpitating heart. The minister of death first 
holding this up towards the sun, an object of worship 
throughout Anahuac, cast it at the feet of the deity to 
whom the temple was devoted, while the multitudes 
below prostrated themselves in humble adoration. 
The tragic story of this prisoner was expounded by 
the priests as the type of human destiny, which, 
brilliant in its commencement, too often closes in 
sorrow and disaster," 

Such was the prescribed form of human sacrifice 



116 THE STORY OF ANAHUAC. 

practised by the Aztecs, the victims being not only 
men, but women, and sometimes even children. The 
latter were generally sacrificed in seasons of great 
drought, to the God of rain, and were purchased for 
this purpose by the priests from their own parents. 
The numbers who thus miserably perished upon great 
occasions, such as the coronation of the sovereign or 
the dedication of a temple, is incredible. Prescott 
writes, — "At the dedication of the great temple of 
Huitzilopotchli in 1486, the prisoners, who for some 
years had been preserved for the purpose, were drawn 
from all quarters to the capital. They were ranged in 
files forming a procession nearly two miles long. The 
ceremony consumed several days, and 70,000 captives 
are said to have perished at the shrine of this 
terrible deity ! But who can believe that so numerous 
a body would have suflfered themselves to be led 
unresistingly Jike sheep to the slaughter ? Or how 
could their remains, too great for consumption in the 
ordinary way, be disposed of, without breeding a pesti- 
lence in the capital 1 Yet the event was of recent 
date, and is unequivocally attested by the best informed 
historians." 

The most revolting part of the story, however, is the 
manner in which the body of the victim was disposed of. 
It was given to the warrior who had taken him in action, 
and served up at an entertainment giveti to his friends. 
" This," says the same writer, " was not the coarse 
repast of famished cannibals, but a banquet teeming 
with delicious beverages and delicate viands, prepared 
with cost, and attended by both sexes, who conducted 
themselves with all the decorum of civilized life." But 



REFINED CANNIBALISM. 117 

for this loathsome disposal of the body we might agree 
with the American historian, who, comparing the Aztec 
institution of human sacrifice with the Spanish Inqui- 
sition, gives it preference to the latter, which at that 
time destroyed its thousands yearly by a death more 
cruel, armed the hand of brother against brother, and 
did more to arrest the progress of humanity than any 
scheme ever devised. "I'or," says he, "human sacrifice, 
however cruel, has nothing in it degrading to its victim : 
it may be rather said to ennoble him, by devoting him 
to the gods. Although so terrible with the Aztecs, it 
was sometimes voluntarily embraced by them as the 
most glorious death, and one that opened a sure passage 
into paradise. The Inquisition, on the other hand, 
branded its victims with infamy in this world, and con- 
signed them to everlasting perdition in the next." 

Such was the chief institution of the extraordinary 
people whose empire the Spaniards believed the Lord of 
heaven had made over to tliem for their own good ; and 
it is no more than justice to the conquerors to give 
them credit, that from their souls they believed they 
were the instruments of God, by his will engaged in a 
most holy enterprise — the conversion or extirpation of 
some millions of infidels. 

The Spaniards ultimately succeeded; but they were 
indebted in no small degree for that success to the 
Emperor Montezuma himself. This prince, who, ori- 
ginally a priest, and one of the most fanatic of his 
fanatic tribe, had been taken from his duties of sweep- 
ing down the stairs of the temple of the war god to fill 
the throne. The priesthood had never known so glo- 
rious a rule : the festivals were celebrated with unpre* 



118 THE STOKY OF AlfAHUAC. 

cedented grandeur, tlie oracles were consulted on the 
most trivial occasions, and the deities were propitiated 
by hecatombs of victims, brought in triumph from the 
conquered provinces; for, in the earlier years of his reign, 
Montezuma was a great wamor; and, leading his armies 
in person, the Aztec banner had been seen in the most 
distant provinces even to Nicaragua and Honduras. 
Thus, in his combined character of hero, priest, and 
monarch, he was regarded by his subjects as a demi-god. 
Still the priesthood governed the emperor, whose belief 
in all the superstitious legends of his religion amounted 
to fanaticism ; and to his blind credence in one of these 
he was mainly indebted for his ruin. In the Aztec 
mythology was the god of the aii', Quetzalcoatl (the 
feathered serpent). This deity, during bis residence on 
earth, instructed the people in the use of metals, in agri- 
culture, and the ai-ts of government; and while he lived 
here below, the earth teemed with fruits and flowers, 
without the pains of human culture. An ear of 
Indian corn was as much as a single man could 
carry. The cotton, as it grew, took of its own accord 
the rich dyes of human art. The air was filled 
with intoxicating perfumes and the sweet melody of 
bii-ds. 

Unfortunately, Quetzalcoatl, incurring the displeasure 
of a superior deity, was compelled to quit the country. 
Taking leave of his followers, however, upon the shores 
of the Gulf of Mexico, he solemnly promised that he 
and his descendants would return at some future time. 
He then entered his skiff, made of serpents' skins, to 
seek a certain fabled land of Tlapallan. This god — and 
it is important not to forget the description — was said to 



Montezuma's first tidings of the white man. 119 

have been tall in stature^ with a white skin, long hair, 
and a flowing beard. 

As longingly as the ancient Jews looked forward to 
the coming of the Messiah, so did the whole Aztec race 
hope for the return of their good deity, and the recoming 
of the golden age. Montezuma's fears led him into 
the belief that the time was fast approaching, and that 
his empire was coming to an end. For these fears the 
emperor had good cause; for long before — perhaps 
twenty years — the landing, or even the discovery of 
Mexico, rumours had reached the monarch of the 
arrival of Columbus and his followers at different 
Indian nations, " of white men, bearing in their hands 
thunder and lightning, and many among them half- 
horse half-man." To the imagination of the king such 
wonderful beings were not men, but Teules (gods, 
divine beings) ; and if so, surely they must be led by 
Quetzalcoatl. These apprehensions created a strong 
belief in extraordinary events being signs of the ap- 
proaching downfall of the empire. In 1510 the great 
lake swelled, one of the temples took fire, vvdthout any 
apparent cause; the following year appeared three 
comets, strange lights were seen in the heavens, low 
voices heard in the air, and doleful wailings, as if to 
announce some approaching calamity. 

Then came tidings to the capital of the landing of 
Grijalva on the coast. The heart of Montezuma was 
filled with dismay ; for he doubted not that the sceptre 
v/as now speedily to pass from his hands. The de- 
parture of that captain was some relief to the monarch; 
but, expecting the return of the Spaniards, he caused 
sentinels to be placed upon the heights round the 



120 THE STORY OF ANAHUAC, 

coast. They did return under Cortes, and the newg 
being sent to the emperor, he at once sent word to the 
governor, Teuhtlile, to receive them hospitably; but the 
hieroglyphical report of the invaders revived his former 
fears, and he at once called together his council. One 
party proposed resisting the strangers by fraud or open 
force; the others contended that, if they were super- 
natural beings, fraud and force would be of no avail. 
If they were ambassadors, as they pretended, from a 
foreign prince, such a policy would be cowardly and 
unjust. That they were not of the family of Quetzal- 
coatl was clear to them all ; for at Tabasco they had 
outraged and endeavoured to uproot that deity's re- 
ligion. The nobles could come to no agreement. One 
half were for fraud or fighting : it was the bravest, the 
most patriotic course, and in all probability would have 
saved the empire. The others were for giving them a 
friendly reception. I am afraid Montezuma was the 
greatest coward, or at least the weakest, among them ; 
for he resolved upon the most dangerous of all policies 
• — a middle course ; hence the reason he sent those 
magnificent presents, but with a stern refusal to receive 
the strangers in his capital. Thus did a flood of light 
enter into the mind of Cortes, proving to that quick- 
sighted general both the wealth and weakness of the 
monarch. Hence that resolve which, after the repeated 
refusals of Montezuma to see him, had been expressed 
in those words to his officers, — "This is a rich and 
powerful prince indeed; yet it shall go hard but we 
"will one day pay him a visit in his own capitaj." 



121 



CHAPTER V. 



CONQUESTS IN THE TIERRA CALIENTE. 

The way to Cempoalla, wliich was on the road to 
Cliialiuitzla, lay through a dreary waste, without the 
least sign of vegetation. But the little army marched 
on spiritedly, falling in at one time with a herd of deer, 
which they chased for provisions, and at another with 
some wild turkeys, which they took to he a species of 
peacock. Alvarado, who had been detached with a 
foraging party, entered some deserted villages, where 
in the temples he found the bodies of men and boys 
lately sacrificed, and the stones on which the horrid 
rite had been performed ; the limbs were severed from 
the body, and taken away to be eaten. " These shock- 
ing scenes," says Diaz, "astonished our soldiers; but 
we everywhere, as we proceeded through the country, 
found similar ones." 

Upon their arrival at Cempoalla — a city containing 
30,000 inhabitants, built of stone and lime, or bricks 
dried in the sun, and the walls covered with 
such brilliant coatings of stucco that the soldiers at 
first mistook it for platings of burnished silver — the 
cacique who had sent an invitation to the general to 
visit him, came forth, and receiving him with due 
honour, ordered his people to supply the army with 



122 CONQUESTS IN THE TIEREA CALIEXTE. 

provisions. He tlieti presented Cortes with some 
golden ornaments of great value, and led liim within 
his mansion, when the general told him, " That he was 
the servant of a great king across the waters, who had 
sent him to that country to abolish the inhuman 
worship that prevailed there, and to establish that of 
the true God." The chief, who dreaded the vengeance 
of his liege lord, replied, — " As for our gods, they send 
us the sunshiue and rain, and are therefore good enough 
for us. As for your monarch, I also am the subject 
of a great king, who will punish every offence by 
carrying off our young men and maidens to be 
sacrificed to his deities." "Nay," replied Cortes, "I 
will never consent to such enormities; I am here 
to redress abuses, and punish the oppressors: there- 
fore, if your people will be true to me, I will enable 
you to throw off the detested yoke of the Aztec 
emperor." 

This was mighty bombast in the leader of a handful 
of men, in the midst of a populous, well-organized, and 
warlike people. But it was good policy, and told well 
upon the astonished cacique, who then informed Cortes 
that he had heard of his terrible victories at Tabasco, 
and had longed to look upon so wonderful a man. 
Still, however, he disliked the idea of a rupture with 
the great Montezuma, whose armies, upon the least 
provocation, would pour down from the mountain 
regions of the west, and, rushing over the plains like 
a whirlwind, sweep off his people to slavery and 
sacrifice ! 

Cortes laughed to scorn the power of Montezuma's 
arms. "A single Spaniard," said he, "is stronger 



CUNNING POLICY OF COETES. 123 

tLan a host of Aztecs." At tlie same time it was 
necessary for him to know what nations would ally 
themselves with him, not on his oion acconnt, but 
theirs, that he might distinguish friend from foe, as he 
intended a war of extermination. 

The arrow had hit the mark. The chief, regarding 
Cortes as a Teule, and the chief of Teules, promised to 
become his ally. Moreover, he told him that his 
own tribe, the Totonacs, could muster 100,000 fight- 
ing menj that there were other great provinces, 
where the rule of Montezuma was also detested. Por 
instance, between Cempoalla and Mexico lay Tlascala, 
an independent republic, composed of a people so 
fierce and warlike that the Mexican emperors had 
never subjugated them. This was welcome news to 
Cortes, whose sanguine mind at once conceived a plan 
of alliance with the rebellious tribes, that would help 
him to the conquest; so, with a high heart he took 
leave of the friendly cacique, and proceeded to meet his 
fleet at Chiahuitzla. 

ArriAdng at the Indian town, he entered into conver- 
sation with several chiefs. While thus engaged, the 
cacique of Cempoalla came up, and joined the confer- 
ence. The general was satisfied; for his new friend 
confirmed all that the chief had told him. During their 
deliberations Cortes was startled by a commotion in 
the market-place. Perceiving it was caused by the 
appearance of five richly dressed strangers, whose lofty 
bearing and numerous attendants betokened them to 
be persons of consequence, he turned to Marina and 
inquired who they were, and why their arrival should 
cause the people to appear so much alarmed. " Azteo 



124 CONQUESTS m the tierra caliente. 

nobles^ who have come to gather tribute for Monte- 
zuma/' she replied. But the chief, who had left him 
for a time to speak with the strangers, now came up, 
and, with downcast countenance, added, "That not 
only had they come to collect the tribute, but so 
indignant were they at the chief having received the 
Spaniards in a friendly manner, without the permission 
of the emperor, that, in expiation of the crime, they 
further demanded twenty young men and women for 
sacrifice to the gods. 

Cortes replied by insisting that they should refuse 
the demand, and seize the men who had made it. For 
a time the chiefs hesitated at the performance of an act 
that would bring such terrible vengeance upon their 
heads; but the general insisted, and the Aztec lords 
were bound hand and foot and placed in confinement. 
During the niglit Cortes had two of them brought 
before him, expressing his sorrow at the insult they 
had received from the Totonacs. He told them that on 
the morrow he would endeavour to obtain the release 
of their companions. Then ordering some of his party 
to give them a safe escort to another part of the coast, 
he desired them to tell their master that the 
Spaniards, who had a great regard for him, had freed 
his nobles, notwithstanding his ungenerous behaviour 
in leaving them to perish from want on his barren 
shores. 

The Aztecs speedily fled, and they were shortly after 
followed by their companions, whom the Spanish 
general had no little difficulty in protecting from the 
rage of the Totonacs, who, having once been persuaded 
to such an act of treason as imprisoning the emperor's 



THE FIRST COLONY PLANTED IN NEW SPAIN. 125 

high officers, now desired to sacrifice them. Thus, by 
craft, courage, and decision, did Cortes, without the 
loss of a single life, strike terror into the heart of 
Montezuma, and raise up for himself a host of friends 
among these simple natives, who could only regard 
the man as a god who had dared so much. This 
stroke of policy Cortes followed up by sending messen- 
gers through the Totonac towns and villages, com- 
manding that no tribute should be paid to the Mexican 
sovereign. As for the Cempoallan and Totonac chiefs, 
they had gone too far ever to expect pardon from 
Montezuma. Therefore, with the hope of obtaining 
their original freedom by the aid of the wonderful 
strangers, they took the oath of allegiance to the King 
of Spain. Having thus added so many vassals to his 
master's crown, Cortes proceeded to build the town of 
Yilla Rica de Yera Cruz, for which all the officers had 
been chosen at San Juan de Ulua. This city, by the 
aid of thousands of natives, was soon erected; and thus 
he had established a good point d'appui for future 
operations; a place of retreat for the disabled, and for 
the army in case of reverses; a magazine for stores 
and such articles as might be received from or sent to 
Spain. This was the first colony planted in New Spain. 
The story of the audacious insult oflfered to the 
sovereign of Mexico, by the imprisonment of his nobles, 
soon reached the capital. It was more than even the 
plausible Montezuma could bear; so, determining upon 
speedy vengeance, he ordered two armies to be put in 
motion, the one for the punishment of the rebellious 
Totonacs, the other for the extirpation of the Spaniards. 
But the crafty policy of Cortes now told upon the 



126 CONQUESTS m THE tiehra caliente. 

weak sovereign ; for in the interim the Mexican nobles 
arrived whom the general had set at liberty, and gave 
such an account to their master of the manner in which 
they had been treated by the Spaniards, and of the good- 
will Cortes had expressed towards him, that instead of 
an army, Montezuma sent a peaceful embassy, headed 
by his two nephews and four great lords, who were 
charged to deliver another magnificent present to the 
Spanish general, and the emperor's thanks for the 
kindness shown to his representatives. At the same 
time they were to remonstrate with him for instigating 
his subjects to throw off their allegiance — a crime his 
majesty would assuredly not forget hereafter, although 
for the present he would not notice it. This merciful 
reprieve he granted, as he considered the Spaniards 
were the successors of the good deity Quetzalcoatl, 
mentioned in the ancient prophecy, and consequently 
of the same ancestry as himself 

Cortes replied by complaining of the sudden flight 
of the governor, Teuhtlile, but for which he should 
not have advanced so far into the country. As for 
the refusal of the people to pay tribute, they were 
now vassals of the great sovereign of Spain, and it 
was impossible to serve two masters at the same 
time; but he expected soon to visit the great Monte- 
zuma, when all differences could be adjusted. Then 
giving a few trifling presents to the princes, Cortes, 
expert in the art of making a great show with small 
means, ordered a review, in which there was so grand a 
display of cavalry, infantry, artillery, and the materials 
of war, that the Aztecs returned to the capital filled 
with wonder at his power and resources. The 



HEREDIA THE BISCAYAN. 127 

manner in wliich lie sometimes applied this art almost 
approaches the ludicrous. Shortly after the departure 
of the ambassadors, the cacique came to Cortes, com- 
plaining of the outrages committed upon his people 
by a garrison of Mexican troops at a neighbouring 
city, named Ciugapacinga. The cacique addressed 
Cortes in a style that plainly showed he regarded 
the Spaniards as something more than men. He 
was desirous that such a notion should be kept up; 
"So," says Captain Diaz, "after some considera- 
tion, Cortes, laughing, said to those about him, 
* Gentlemen, you see that these people esteem us to 
be a superior race of beings, let us encourage the 
prejudice, and impress them with the idea that one 
of us is enough to drive an army before him. For 
this purpose I will send old Heredia, the Biscayan 
musketeer, whose fierce and scarred face, great beard, 
one eye, and lame leg, will terrify them.' This man 
had been a soldier in Italy. Cortes told him when 
he had got as far as the river to fire a musket as 
a signal; for he did this only to try how far the 
credulity of the Indians in our favour would carry 
them. Heredia being present, he called to the cacique, 
saying, 'Go with this Teule, whom I send to kill 
or make prisoners all your enemies.' The cacique set 
out with their party accordingly, being headed by the 
old soldier, who went firing his musket before them 
out^of the town. As soon as he arrived at the river 
he gave the signal, and Cortes sent to stop them, 
having sufficiently tried their faith; and when they 
returned he informed them that it was his intention 
to proceed against their enemies with his whole force." 

K 



128 CONQUESTS IN THE TIERRA CALIENTE. 

Cortes kept liis word. Accompanied by his allies, 
the Cempoallans, he marched upon the Mexicans; 
but, instead of fighting, negotiated so well that he 
reconciled the two parties — nay, gained the good- will 
of both; for not only did he prevent them from 
plundering each other, but hanged one of his own 
soldiers, a certain De Morla, for stealing a couple 
of fowls. This was a severe punishment for so small 
a crime, especially as the thief was a Spaniard and 
the victim an Indian ; but it was a stroke of policy, 
Cortes being desirous just at that time of making 
himself popular among the natives. It is comfort- 
ing, however, to know that the poor fellow was cut 
down by Captain Alvarado before he was dead — a 
breach of discipline the general was too wise to notice. 
Having thus aided his friend of Cempoalla, he desired 
that cacique to permit his idols to be cast down, and 
his people to become Christians. The chief resisted; 
Cortes gave the word to his soldiers ; but the Indians, 
so lately friends, gathered' together- from all quarters, 
arms in hand, while the priests, in their dark cotton 
robes, with dishevelled tresses matted with blood, 
flowing wildly over their shoulders, rushed frantically 
among the natives, calling on them to protect their 
gods from violation. It was an odd way to cement 
a friendship so recently formed; but too often on 
his march had Cortes witnessed the abominations 
of these accursed idols not to have determined that 
it was his duty to God and man at any risk to 
cast them down. Here, and in all similar matters, 
Cortes was not politic; but he was a Christian and 
sincere, hence he ordered the arrest of the cacique and 



DESTRUCTION OF IDOLS. 12D 

several of his principal officers. How god-like must he 
have appeared^ acting at that moment in such a cause 
in that manner. We may well imagine the determin- 
ation with which, turning to the cacique, he said, 
" Now, my friend, quiet these warriors of yours; for 
if a single arrow be shot against a Spaniard, it shall 
cost them all their lives. If I withdraw my protection 
from you and your people, how will you, a traitor to 
Montezuma, meet his terrible vengeance ?" The cacique 
could not refuse ; but covering his face with his hands^ 
he declared " that the gods would avenge their own 
wrongs." 

The reply had but small weight with so determined 
an iconoclast as Cortes. The signal was given, the sol- 
diers entered the temple, and sprang up the staircase to 
the summit. There they witnessed that which would 
have removed the hesitation of the most timid, had it 
been possible for timidity to find a place in the breast of 
a Spanish adventurer. The walls were black with human 
gore. Speedily the huge idols were torn from their 
foundations, dragged forward and rolled down the 
steps, amidst the joyous shouts of Christians and the 
groans and shrieks of the horrified Indians, 

As at Cozumel, the idols were burned, the temple 
cleansed, whitewashed, and an altar erected ; mass was 
then performed, and an old soldier, disabled by bodily 
infirmities, left to watch over the sanctuary, and instruct 
the natives, most of whom, disgusted with the gods 
being incapable of protecting their own temple, became 
ready converts. Then taking a temporary leave of his 
Cempoallan friends, now brothers in religion as well 
as arms, Cortes repaired to Villa Rica. To his 



1 



130 CONQUESTS IN THE TIEREA CALIENTE. 

surprise he found tliat during his absence a Spanish 
vessel, with a crew of twelve men, had chanced to 
touch at that part of the coast. This ship was com- 
manded by one Saucedo, who had followed Cortes in 
quest of adventure. The number was small, but a 
timely addition to his force ; moreover, they brought 
him information that the governor, Velasquez, had 
received a royal warrant from Spain, authorizing him 
to establish a colony in the newly discovered countries. 

To circumvent any underhand dealings of the gover- 
nor at the court of Spain, where he knew he had great 
influence, Cortes thought it would be wise to send 
messengers with an account of his whole proceedings 
hitherto, and to demand a warranty for the past and 
future. The messengers chosen^ were his own fast 
friends, Puerto Carrero and Francisco de Montejo, once 
partisans of Yelasquez, but whom he had won over to 
his own interests. To propitiate the Emperor Charles, 
the politic Cortes determined to send home not only 
the royal fifth of the wealth he had gained, but the 
whole. To do this he had to relinquish his own share, 
and persuade every man to do likewise. There can be no 
greater proof of the power this great man possessed over 
the main body of his force, than the readiness with which 
they resigned that gold for which alone they had 
risked their fortunes and lives. Captain Diaz gives us 
the following quaint account of that famous first letter 
which Cortes sent to Europe : — 

" Beginning with the expressions of respect due to 
so great a monarch, it proceeded to inform him of the 
events which had occurred during our expedition, to 
the period of our election of Cortes, until his majesty's 



CORTES' FIRST LETTER TO CHARLES THE FIFTH. 131 

pleasure on tlie subject should be known; with our 
eugagement to yield him a fifth of all treasure, after 
the deduction for his majesty. It also contained an 
account of our discovery of the two Spaniards in this 
country, and our war in Tabasco, until we brought 
those people to submission to his majesty, and to 
embrace our holy faith ; of our obtaining two excellent 
linguists; of our arrival at St. Juan de Ulua, and our 
interviews with the ambassadors of Montezuma ; our 
subsequent march into the country, and our alliance 
with the people here, who had in consequence re- 
nounced obedience to the Mexican monarch; of the 
expedition to Cingapacinga, the construction of our 
fortress, and our present determination to advance into 
the country to the court of the great Montezuma. The 
letter also gave an account of the military and religious 
customs of the inhabitants, of the former expeditions of 
our countrymen, and an enumeration of the various arti- 
cles of treasure which we sent by our agents, and how we 
also despatched by the same opportunity, four natives 
whom we rescued out of the cages of Cempoalla, where 
they were fattening for victims. After these accounts 
we further stated how we were at present 450 
soldiers, surrounded by hosts of enemies, and ready 
to lay down our lives for the service of God and 
his majesty, and we supplicated that his majesty would 
be pleased not to bestow the government of so great and 
rich a country, which deserved to be ruled by a great 
prince or lord, on any unworthy pei'son. We also 
stated to his majesty our apprehension that Yelasquez, 
the Governor of Cuba, might be attempted to be put in 
upon us, through the interest of his patron, the Bishop 



132 CONQUESTS IN THE TIERRA CALIENTE 

of Burgos, whom he had attached to him by the assign- 
ment of valuable estates in that island, in which he 
failed in his duty to his majesty, who was by right 
entitled to them. That these things we were bound to 
represent, and await the return of his gracious answer 
prostrate on the ground; and that, if the Bishop of 
Burgos sent any person over us, we should suspend our 
obedience until his majesty's pleasure was known, and 
that in the meantime we remained under the command 
of his majesty's faithful servant, Cortes, whose merits 
we exalted to the skies." 

Shortly after the departure of Puerto Carrero and 
Montejo a conspiracy was discovered among the parti- 
sans of Yelasquez, headed by a priest named Diaz. 
Its object was to seize one of the ships and return to 
Cuba. The very night, however, on which they were 
to sail they were betrayed by one of their own party. 
Cortes, as soon as their guilt was established, sentenced 
two to death, one to lose his feet, and the other to be 
whipped. The leader, being a priest, claimed benefit 
of clergy, and so escaped. One of the men who was 
hanged was Escudero, the officer who so cunningly 
arrested Cortes before the sanctuary in Cuba. 

When Cortes was ratifying the sentence of death he 
gave a deep sigh, exclaiming, " How happy is he who 
is not able to write, and is thereby prevented from 
signing the death warrants of men. Captain Diaz, 
however, seems to have doubted his general's sincerity ; 
for he quaintly remarks, "It seems to me that this 
expression is very frequently afiected among judges, and 
that it was borrowed from the cruel Nero at the time he 
counterfeited the appearance of being a good emperor." 



CORTES DETERMINES TO DESTROY THE SHIPS. 133 

After the execution tlie general sent one division of 
the army on to Cempoalla, under the command of 
Alvarado, whom he soon followed with the remainder. 
On his way Cortes planned a coup d'etat, surpassing 
that at San Juan de Alua, by which he had thrown 
off all responsibility, and formed his army into a civil 
community, which, by a show of legality, could appoint 
him to the captain -generalship. He had pondered 
over the late conspiracy to seize one of the ships. It 
might have proved successful ; nay, worse, another 
might be formed. There were many among his fol- 
lowers who dreaded the advance of so small a party 
into the interior of a great, populous, and warlike 
empire. These might infect the majority; if so, he 
would be powerless to prevent a seizure of the ships. 
But suppose they were all destroyed, then retreat 
would be cut off; his men must advance, and fight 
for dear life's sake. It should be done, but with 
the men's own sanction. It was a policy both bold 
and cunning; yet it succeeded. Upon his arrival he 
made known his design to the most devoted of his 
followers, who entered Avarmly into his plan. The 
pilots were heavily bribed to make a report to the 
general that the vessels " were grievously racked by the 
heavy gales they had encountered, and, what was worse, 
the worms had eaten into their sides and bottoms until 
most of them were unseaworthy; indeed, so bad, that 
they could not be long kept afloat." 

Cortes listened to this report with well-dissembled 
surprise. " If it be so," he exclaimed, " we must make 
the best of it. Heaven's will be done!" He ordered 
five to be sunk. Then came another report, and a 



134 CONQUESTS IN THE TIERRA CALIENTE. 

similar sentence was passed and executed upon four 
more. Onlj one remained! Never was Cortes so 
unpopular as when this intelligence reached the army 
at Cempoalla. Never was this great man in such 
danger from his followers; for they menaced open 
mutiny, declaring, "their general had led them like 
cattle to be butchered in the shambles." Never was 
Cortes more equal to the situation. He assembled the 
men, and in those persuasive tones and manner that 
had made them follow his fortune at the risk of the 
governor Velasquez's displeasure, told them that a sur- 
vey of the ships showed they were not fit for service. 
If he had ordered them to be destroyed, they should 
consider, also, that Ms was the greatest sacrifice, for 
they were his property, — all, indeed, he possessed in 
the world. The troops, on the other hand, would 
derive one great advantage from it by the addition of 
a himdred able-bodied recruits, before required to man 
the vessels. But, even if the fleet had been saved, it 
could have been of little service in their present expe- 
dition, since they would not need it if they succeeded ; 
while they would be too far in the interior to profit by 
it if they failed. He besought them to turn their 
thoughts in another direction. To be thus calculating 
chances and means of escape was unworthy of brave 
souls. They had set their hands to the work; to look 
back as they advanced would be their ruin. They had 
only to resume their former confidence in themselves 
and their general, and success was certain. "As for 
me," he concluded, " I have chosen my part. I will 
remain here while there is one to bear me company. 
If there be any so craven as to shrink from sharing the 



REVIVED ENTHUSIASM OF THE TROOPS. 13-5 

dangers of our glorious enterprise, let tliem go home, in 
God's name. Tliere is still one vessel left; let tliem 
take that and return to Cuba. They can tell there 
how they deserted their commander and their com- 
rades, and patiently wait till we return loaded with 
the spoils of the Aztecs." 

The politic orator, adds the historian of the event, 
had touched the right chord in the bosom of the 
soldiers. As he spoke their resentment gradually died 
away. The faded visions of future riches and glory, 
rekindled by his eloquence, again floated before their 
imaginations. The first shock over, they felt ashamed 
of their distrust. The enthusiasm for their leader 
revived; for they knew that under his banner only 
could they hope for victory; and as he concluded, they 
testified the reaction of their feelings by making the 
air ring with their shouts, "To Mexico! to Mexico!" 



136 



CHAPTER YL 



THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 



Just before setting out on the marcli, the general 
heard from Escalante, his commander at Yilla Rica, 
that there were four strange vessels lurking about the 
coast. It might hh a squadron sent by Yelasquez to 
harrass his operations; therefore, at the head of a 
small party of cavalry, he galloped to the new city, 
ordering, in case of accident, a party of light infantry 
to follow. Upon reaching the town, Escalante prayed 
Cortes to rest, while he looked after the suspicious 
vessels. 

"Not so" was the reply; " remember the proverb, A 
wounded hare takes no nap;" and away the general 
galloped, without stopping a minute to rest himself or 
men, till they had reached some three or four leagues 
to the north, where suddenly he fell in with three men 
who had just landed. We can imagine with what 
fierce eagerness he demanded who they were, and for 
what purpose they were lurking in these seas, and 
what relief he felt when the men replied, — " We 
belong to yon squadron, fitted out by Francisco de 
Garay, Governor of Jamaica, who a year since 
visited Florida, and has subsequently received from 
the court authority to rule over all lands that belong 



A RUSE. 137 

thereto. Accordingly we are here to warn any of our 
countrymen from encroaching upon the governor's 
territories." Cortes, whose mind was now at ease, 
must have laughed at the geographical knowledge 
possessed by the commander of the squadron, and 
determined to turn this accident to his advantage. He 
persuaded the three men to join his army, hoping the 
whole fleet would follow their example. Those on 
board, however, distrusting the good terms on which 
their commander appeared to be with Cortes, refused 
to send, a single boat ashore. The general, therefore, 
had recourse to a stratagem. 

He made a feint of withdrawing his men back in 
the direction of the city, but at night returned and 
placed them in ambush. In the morning three of his 
own followers exchanged clothes with the new-comers, 
went down to the shore, and signalized to one of the 
ships. The ruse succeeded; a boat full of armed men put 
off to rescue, as they thought, their comrades; three 
or four leaped ashore, and were instantly seized ; their 
companions, however, managed to effect their return 
to the ships. 

By this bold, but not altogether to be commended 
means, the general succeeded in adding to his force 
half-a-dozen able-bodied recruits, with whom he 
returned to Yilla Kica, after having, says Captain 
Diaz, been one day and two nights without eating a 
morsel of food. Truly our hero was not a man to let 
the grass grow beneath his feet. 

The army was soon ready to set out. It consisted 
of 400 foot, 15 horsemen, 7 pieces of artillery, 1,300 
Indian warriors, 1,000 tamanes, or porters, sent by 



138 THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 

tlie cacique of Cempoalla for the purpose of dragging 
the guns and carrying the baggage. In addition, forty 
of the chief men accompanied him, partly in the 
character of hostages, and partly as guides and 
advisers, in which capacities they performed important 
services. The remaining portion of the Spanish force 
was left under Escalante to garrison Yilla Kica. 

It was on the 16th of August, 1519, these bold 
hearts set out upon that most memorable march; the 
really brave, led on by the hope of wealth or the 
love of glory, as it was understood in that age, and 
a burning desire to uproot from the whole continent 
the superstition whose accursed rites had so horrified 
them, and -plant in its stead the sacred emblem of 
Christianity in every town and village in the land. 
The timid could only hope for safety in advancing to the 
conquest; for all retreat was impossible. Alluding to 
this, Cortes, in his address at starting, said, — " Indeed, 
this assurance must be our stay, for every other 
refuge is now cut ofi" but that afforded by the pro- 
vidence of G-od and your own stout hearts." He 
fired their ambition and love . of fame by comparing 
them to the ancient Romans. Indeed, so eloquently and 
appropriately did he address them, that when he 
had concluded, the whole army as if with one voice 
shouted, — " We are ready to obey you ; lead us on ; 
our fortunes for better or worse are cast with our 
general's." 

That march was in every sense of the phrase "up- 
hill work;" for their road lay through the beautiful 
scenery, and voluptuous, though lone, and, to Europeans, 
deadly climate of the tierroj caliente, over lands rendered 



REACH THE GREAT PLATEAU. 139 

nearly impassable by the heavy rains of summer, till, 
by a gradual ascent up the western sides of the 
Cordilleras, they reached the great plateau or table- 
land of Mexico. Neither did they climb this ascent 
without many a bloody battle with the natives, who 
boldly contested their right to pass through the dif- 
ferent territories. 

As they wound their way upwards, upon the fourth 
day they reached a strong town named Naulineo. 
The inhabitants being friends of their allies, they 
were well received, and Cortes, as indeed he did in 
eA^ery possible instance, erected a cross, and through 
Father Olmedo sought the conversion of the natives. 
Misfortune first overtook them as they arose into the 
tierra fria, or cold regions. Here the bleak winds 
from the mountains seemed to penetrate to their 
bones, and they became drenched by rain, sleet, and 
hail. The quilted jackets and armour of the Spaniards, 
however, protected them ; but hundreds of their Indian 
allies, not so clothed, perished by the way. After 
three days of similar trial and suffering they reached 
the great plateau, where, from a height of 7,000 feet 
above the level of the sea, it stretches for hundreds 
of miles along the crests of the Cordilleras. 

The first event of importa.nce upon reaching the 
table-land was their arrival at a city which, in size, 
the solidity of its buildings, and numerous population, 
greatly surpassed Cempoalla. At this place, which 
contained no less than thirteen teocallis, or temples, 
they again saw unmistakable signs of that fearful 
superstition under which the whole land of Anahuac 
groaned. " Near some temples," says Captain Diaz, 



140 THE MAECH TO MEXICO. 

" were laid numbers of human skeletons, so arranged 
that they could be counted with ease and certainty. 
I am convinced, from my own observation, that there 
were above 100,000. In another part of the square 
human bones were heaped up in such quantities that 
they could not be counted. Numbers of skulls were 
also suspended from beams, and all these were watched 
by three priests. The same thing was seen every- 
where in some degree, as we passed through this 
country and that of Tlascala." 

Summoning the cacique before him, Cortes asked 
him if he was subject to Montezuma. " Who is there 
that is not a vassal to the great Montezuma?" replied 
the Indian with affected surprise at such a question. 
" Cortes answered that he was not ; moreover, that he 
was subject to a sovereign, many of whose vassals were 
as powerful as the Aztec king himself; that the pur- 
pose of his coming into that land was to put a stop to 
human sacrifices, and to plant therein the true religion." 
Upon this, the cacique, assuming a manner as dignified 
and haughty as that of the general, replied that " his 
sovereign was so powerful that he could muster 
3,000,000 warriors, that his revenues were immense, 
and his state magnificent. More than 20,000 victims, 
captives taken in battle, were annually sacrificed 
on the altars of his gods. As for his capital, it 
was impregnable, standing in the midst of a great 
lake whose surface was covered with the emperor's 
vessels of war; the approach to the city was by means 
of causeways several miles long, connected in parts by 
wooden bridges, which, when raised, cut off all com- 
munications with the surrounding country." 



WISDOM OF FATHER OLMEDO. 141 

"At this description of Mexico we can fancy that 
the stoutest hearted must have quailed at the prospect 
of attempting its conquest. But the cacique had told 
them of the great wealth of Montezuma in gold, silver, 
and jewels; so," says brave old Diaz, "the words 
which we heard made us — such is the nature of 
Spanish soldiers — only the more earnest to prove the 
adventure, desperate as it might appear." There is 
now no doubt that the wily cacique had been advised 
of the coming of the Spaniards, and, fearing to draw 
down upon himself the anger of Montezuma by a dif- 
ferent course, gave such an account of the difficulties 
to be encountered in their progress as would induce 
them to retrace their steps. Still, we have it upon 
the authority of Diaz that they ultimately found Mexico 
to be even a stronger place, in a military point of view, 
than the cacique had described it. The manner through- 
out of this chief was cold and inhospitable, until the 
general told him of the embassies and many magnificent 
presents he had received from Montezuma. But hear- 
ing of these, he became more friendly, gave some gold 
ornaments to the general and provisions to the troops. 

At this point of his career Cortes was preserved 
from great peril by the wisdom of Father Olmedo ; for 
the general, upon finding the cacique unwilling to 
become a convert to Christianity, would^ — such was 
his zeal — at all risks, have commanded his willing 
soldiers to throw down their idols and plant the cross. 
But the good father, ujDon this, as upon many after 
occasions, argued " that to introduce the cross among 
the natives in their present state of ignorance and 
incredulity would be to expose the sacred symbol to 



142 THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 

desecration as soon as the backs of the Spaniards were 
turned. No; it was better to bide their time." For- 
tunately for the enthusiastic soldiers, Cortes listened 
to this reasoning; for, as we shall see, the people of the 
great plateau were far different from the enervated 
traces of the tierra caliente, or even the brave warriors 
of Tabasco. 

The general continued his course till he arrived' 
at a town of some 5,000 inhabitants. Here they 
met with the most hospitable reception. Coming to a 
halt, he conferred with the friendly natives as to his 
future line of march. They strongly advised him to 
take a route which led through the ancient city of 
Cholula, as the inhabitants were a mild, inoffensive 
race, and would entertain him kindly. "ISTot so; do 
not take that route," exclaimed the Cempoallan allies. 
"Avoid the Cholulans; they are false, perfidious, and 
cowardly." They advised him to proceed by the road 
to Tlascala, that brave republic which had so long set 
the power and arms of Montezuma at defiance. Cortes 
acted upon the advice of the Cempoallans, and at once 
choosing four of their number, sent them as ambas- 
sadors to the Tlascalans with a letter, the contents of 
which he caused to be explained to them. In this 
Cortes commended the valour of the people in hav- 
ing so long resisted the proud Montezuma, whom he 
intended to humble, and craved permission for his 
troops to pass through their territories. With this 
document the general also sent a cap of crimson cloth, 
a sword, and a cross-bow, weapons that would be sure 
to excite the admiration of Indians. 

Three days having elapsed without bringing the 



A TLASCALAN FORTEESS. 143 

return of tlie ambassadors, Cortes ordered an advance 
towards Tlascala; nor did the troops halt till they 
found their progress suddenly arrested by a fortifica- 
tion, the strength and enormous size of which struck 
them with amazement. 

From the Cempoallans the Spaniards learned that 
this extraordinary structure marked the limits of 
Tlascala, and had been erected as a defence against 
the Mexicans. "It was a stone wall, nine feet in 
height and twenty in thickness, with a parapet a foot 
and a-half broad, raised on the summit, for the pro- 
tection of those who defended it. It had only one 
opening in the centre, made by two semicircular lines 
of wall overlapping each other for a distance of forty 
paces, and affording a passage way between, ten paces 
wide, so contrived, therefore, as to be perfectly com- 
manded by the inner wall. This fortification, which 
extended more than two leagues, rested at either end 
on the bold natural buttresses formed by the sierra. 
The work was built of immense blocks of stones, nicely 
laid together without cement; and the remains still 
existing, among which are rocks of the whole breadth 
of the rampart, fully attest its solidity and size." 

Aghast at the sight of this Cyclopean structure, the 
troops hesitated to proceed, as if it were tempting 
Providence to brave a people so numerous, powerful, 
and warlike. No man knew better than Cortes, that to 
hesitate was to insure defeat, so, putting himself at the 
head of his cavalry, he galloped forward through the 
only opening, exclaiming, " Forward, soldiers ! the holy 
cross is our banner, and beneath it we must conquer." 
In a few minutes the hitherto free soil of Tlascala was 
L 



144 THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 

trodden by tlae foot of the conqueror. The uncertainty 
as to whether they were to be received as friends or foes 
was soon decided ; for, advancing a little, they were met 
by a body of several thousand Indians, who attacked the 
Spaniards with great fury, killing one cavalier and two 
horses. The last loss was a sad one, not alone for 
the animals, which were invaluable, but, as it proved, 
they had at last come among a race who were not 
terrified at their appearance. Having defeated the 
natives in this desperate battle, they continued their 
route, and fell in with two of the Cempoallans whom 
Cortes had sent to Tlascala. They were accompanied 
by two Tlascalan envoys, who disavowed the late 
attack upon his army as unauthorized, and assured him 
of a friendly reception in their capital. Cortes put no 
great faith in their assurances of friendship. It was 
well he did not; for during their advance the next 
day they met the other two Cempoallans, who, half 
dead with terror, told the general they had been seized 
and put in cages, in order to be- sacrificed at an 
approaching festival • moreover, a large army was pre- 
paring to arrest their progress; news that was con- 
firmed shortly afterwards by the appearance of about a 
thousand warriors. The general caused them to be 
told that he had no hostile intentions. The proclama- 
tion, however, was replied to by a shower of darts, 
arrows, and stones, which fell like rain upon the stout 
harness of the soldiers. 

"St. Jago, and at them!" cried Cortes. The 
Spaniards charged, and caused the Indians to retreat. 
This retreat, however, was but a stratagem to draw 
their enemy into a defile so narrow that their cavalry 



A BATTLE WITH THE TLASC ALANS. 115 

and artillery were useless; but, to their dismay, in 
turning an abrupt angle of the pass, they saw an army 
of 100,000 men. Getting sight of the Spaniards, the 
Indian army began to beat their drums and scream 
out their hideous war cries. 

" This terrible host rushed forward as if to over- 
whelm the invaders by mere numbers, and were met 
heroically by the Spaniards, who received the shock 
unshaken. After a terrific fight, amidst the din of 
which the voice of Cortes was heard cheering his men, 
and crying ' Forward, forward, comrades ! if we fail 
now we shall never plant the cross of Christ in the 
land.' Xicotencatl, the Tlascalan general, finding 
that he could not make head in the open field against 
his enemy (eight of his chiefs having been slain), 
ordered a retreat." 

Too contented with his victory to pursue the enemy, 
Cortes gathered together his wounded, and choosing a 
rocky eminence named " the hill of Tzompach," 
bivouacked for the night. On the following day he 
despatched two Tlascalan chiefs, who had been taken 
prisoners, to their countrymen, proposing a cessation of 
hostilities, and his desire to visit their capital as a 
friend. While awaiting the return of these ambassa- 
dors, the general made a foray into the country. 
He seems to have been guilty of much unnecessary 
cruelty ; for wherever he met with the slightest resist- 
ance he laid waste the country with fire and sword. 

Cortes had not long to wait. Upon again reaching 
his quarters he found his envoys awaiting him. They 
had seen the Tlascalan general at the head of a force 
50,000 strong; and in reply to the message from 



14G THE MA.RCH TO MEXICO. 

Cortes, lie said, "Eeturn to the Spaniards, and tell 
them they may pass on to Tlascala as soon as they 
please, but when they reach there, their flesh will be 
torn from their bodies for sacrifice to the gods." The 
sensation that hanghty defiance caused among the 
Spaniards is well expressed by the pious old hero 
Diaz, who says, " When all this was communicated to 
us, being but mortals, and like all others, fearing 
death, we prepared for battle by confessing to our 
reverend fathers, who were occupied during the whole 
night in their holy office." 

Cortes at once advanced, with the hope, by so bold a 
movement, of intimidating the enemy. His instruc- 
tions to his troops were, — for the infantry, to rely on 
the point, rather than the edge of their swords, and 
to endeavour to thrust their opponents through the 
body; the cavalry were to charge at half speed, with 
their lances aimed at the eyes of the Indians. The 
artillery, arquebusiers, and cross-bow men were to 
support one another, some loading while others dis- 
charged their pieces, that there should be unintermitted 
firing kept up through the action. Above all, they 
were to maintain their ranks close and unbroken, as 
on this depended their preservation. 

The Spaniards had not advanced a quarter of a 
league when they came in sight of the Tlascalan army. 
" Nothing could be more picturesque than the aspect of 
these Indian battalions, with the naked bodies of the 
common soldiers gaudily painted, the fantastic helmets 
of the chiefs glittering with gold and precious stones, 
and the glowing panoplies of featherwork which deco- 
rated their persons. Innumerable spears and darts, 



TLASCALAN TROOPS. 147 

tipped with points of transparent itztli, or fiery copper, 
sparkled bright in the morning sun, like the phosphoric 
gleams playing on the surface of a troubled sea ; while 
the rear of the mighty host was dark with the shadows 
of banners, on which were emblazoned the armorial 
bearings of the great Tlascalan and Otomie chieftains. 
Among these, the white heron on the rock, the cogni- 
zance of the house of Xicotencatl, was conspicuous, 
and still more the golden eagle, with outspread 
wings, in the fashion of the Eoman signum, richly 
ornamented with emeralds and silverwork, the great 
standard of the republic of Tlascala. 

The common file wore no covering except a girdle 
round the loins. Their bodies were painted with the 
appropriate colours of the chieftain whose banner they 
followed. The feather mail of the higher class of war- 
riors exhibited also a similar selection of colours for the 
like object, in the same manner as the colour of the 
tartan indicates the peculiar clan of the Highlander. 
The caciques and j^i'incipal warriors were clothed in a 
quilted cotton tunic, two inches thick, which, fitting 
close to the body, protected also the thighs and the 
shoulders. Over this the wealthier Indians wore cui- 
rasses of thin gold plate or silver. Their legs w^ere 
defended by leathern boots or sandals, trimmed with 
gold. But the most brilliant part of their costume 
was a rich mantle of the flumaje, or featherwork, em- 
broidered with curious art, and furnishing some resem- 
blance to the gorgeous surcoat worn by the European 
knight over his armour in the Middle Ages. This 
graceful and picturesque dress was surmounted by a 
fantastic head-piece, made of wood or leather, repre- 



148 THE MAKCH TO MEXICO. 

senting the head of some wild animal, and frequently- 
displaying a formidable array of teeth. With this 
covering the "warrior's head was enveloped, producing 
a most grotesque and hideous effect. From the crown 
floated a splendid panache of the richly-variegated 
plumage of the tropics, indicating by its form and 
colours the rank and family of the wearer. To com- 
plete their defensive armour, they carried shields or 
targets, made sometimes of wood covered with leather, 
but more usually of a light frame of reeds quilted with 
cotton, which were preferred, as tougher and less liable 
to fractui-e than the former. They had other bucklers, 
in which the cotton was covered with an elastic sub- 
stance, enabling them to be shut up in a more compact 
form, like a fan or umbrella. These shields were de- 
corated with showy ornaments, according to the taste 
or wealth of the wearer, and fringed with a beautiful 
pendant of featherwork. 

Their weapons were bows and arrows, slings, jave- 
lins, and darts. They were accomplished archers, and 
would discharge two or even three arrows at a time ; 
but they most excelled in throwing the javelin. One 
species of this, with a thong attached to it, which re- 
mained in the slinger's hand, that he might recall the 
weapon, was especially dreaded by the Spaniards. These 
various arms were pointed with bone or the mineral 
itztli (obsidian), the hard vitreous substance already 
noticed as capable of taking an edge like a razor, though 
easily blunted. Their spears and arrows were also fre- 
quently headed with copper. Instead of a sword they 
bore a two-handed staff, about three feet and a-half 
long, in which, at regular distances, were inserted trans- 



A GREAT VICTORY. 149 

Tersely sharp blades of iiztli, a formidable weapon, 
which an eye-witness assures ns he had seen fell a horse 
at a blow. 

The fight was commenced, as before, by the Tlas- 
calans, who hurled at the advancing host a shower 
of double-headed darts, stones, and other missiles, 
that darkened the sky. Cortes halted, and forming 
his troops in line, began such a deadly and well- 
directed fire that every bullet found its billet in 
the dense ranks of the enemy. Galled to desper- 
ation, the Indians now rushed upon the Spaniards 
en masse. They fell back; for it was impossible to 
withstand the shock of such an avalanche. But 
each man, knowing the fearful fate that awaited the 
captive, and that there was no alternative but victory 
or immediate death, a supernatural strength seemed 
lent to the little band, and with such desperation 
did the cavalry charge, the artillery ply their great 
stone balls, and the infantry use their swords upon 
the naked bodies of their enemies, that the Indians 
were at length driven back. Still, disabled as they 
were, and worn out with incessant fatigue, the 
Spaniards must have speedily succumbed to the 
immense number of the enemy; but fortunately, two 
of the Indian generals, quarrelling with their chief, 
Xicotencatl, withdrew their forces, and thus com- 
pelled the latter to retreat. Too well pleased with 
his victory to desire a pursuit, Cortes returned to 
his old position on the hill of Tzompach, and returned 
thanks to God for his success. In that desperate 
action, which lasted four hours, the Indians are said 
to have lost some thousands, while of the Christian 



150 THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 

army but one man was killed, although seventy others 
and all the horses were wounded. This extraordinary 
disproportion was owing, not to the superior courage 
of the Sjjaniards, but to the fact, that while the 
Indians were nearly naked, and used only the most 
primitive weapons, their enemies were steel-clad, dis- 
ciplined in the art of war, and possessed fire-arms. 
"The use of the latter," says an historian, "gave 
an ascendency which cannot be easily estimated; one 
so great that a contest between natives equally civil- 
ized, which should be similar in all other respects 
to that between the Spaniards and Tlascalans, would 
probably be attended with a similar issue." Second 
only in effect to the guns and arquebuses were the 
cavalry. The Tlascalans had never before seen a beast 
of burden. Their imaginations were bewildered when 
they beheld horse and rider move in unison, and obedi- 
ent to one impulse, as if possessed of a common natui-e ; 
and as they saw these terrible animals galloping among 
their squadrons and trampling their companions in the 
dust, we cannot be surprised at their deeming them 
supernatural beings. 

The desperate valour of the Tlascalans made Cortes 
still more desirous to form an alliance with them ; so, 
thinking no time so good as immediately after a victory, 
he sent another prisoner to the capital, proposing a 
cessation of hostilities. The brave republicans were 
not yet sufficiently humbled. The senate met, and, to 
aid them in their deliberations, they called in the 
priests. The latter were asked whether the new- 
comers were men of flesh and blood like themselves, 
or supernatural beings. Xicotencatl,^ the general. 



NIGHT ATTACK UPON THE SPANIARDS. lol 

smarting under his defeats, and in opposition to a party 
wlio desired peace, burned to try his fortunes once 
more with the enemy. It is supposed, therefore, that 
he instigated the priests to reply, " That the Spaniards, 
though not gods, were children of the sun, and, there- 
fore, during the day, protected by that luminary; but 
that in a night attack they might be beaten." This 
advice prevailed, and Xicotencatl was empowered to 
make the attempt w4th 10,000 men. . 

The Tlascalans were secret and stealthy in their 
movements; but Cortes was not the man to be taken 
by surprise. His men slept with their arms by their 
sides, and their horses ready saddled, with the bridle 
hanging over the bow. Thus, before the dusky 
columns of natives had reached nearer than the foot of 
the hill, the Spaniards sallied forth and charged down 
its sides, committing such terrible slaughter that, after 
discharging one volley of arrows, the Indians fled in 
dismay, fully confirmed in their notion that the 
strangers were demons, otherwise, how could they have 
known their intended attack? As usual, this victory 
was followed by a new embassy to the capital. The 
envoys found the chiefs of the senate plunged in the 
deepest dejection at their many defeats, and willing to 
accept the overtures of the Spanish general. Accord- 
ingly, four of their principal caciques were sent to the 
camp of the Christians, with many excuses for the 
past, and offers of a friendly reception in the capital. 
On their way the envoys were charged to visit the 
warlike Xicotencatl, and require him to discontinue 
all further hostilities. But, chafing beneath his several 
defeats, the Tlascalan general refused obediencej so 



152 THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 

determined was lie to punish the invaders of his 
country. . He moreover persuaded the envoys to 
relinquish their intended visit to the Spaniards, and 
to remain in his canip. Cortes was thus kept in 
ignorance of the favourable decision of the Tlascalan 



153 



CHAPTER YIL 



THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 



Desirous of striking terror into the hearts of the 
natives, the Spanish general, although so ill from 
fever that he could scarcely keep his saddle, put him- 
self at the head of his cavalry, and made a foray into 
the neighbouring country. This expedition did little 
for his fair fame; for he was accused by his contem- 
poraries of committing many acts of unnecessary 
cruelty. On his return, laden with plunder, he found 
his army in a state of discontent, if not mutiny. A 
deputation of seven waited upon him, praying him to 
forego his intention of marching to Mexico. " Our 
patience is exhausted," said they; "the victories we 
have won, although against such fearful odds, have 
not advanced us one step; our sufferings are no longer 
endurable; fifty of our companions have fallen; we 
' lead worse lives than beasts of burden, for we rest not 
from our labours neither by night nor day. As to con- 
quering Mexico, there was not one man in the army 
who did not regard it as madness, or a tempting of 
Providence; for, if the petty republic of Tlascala 
had been capable of offering such resistance, what 
might they not expect from the Mexican empire?" 
They concluded by begging that he would return to 



1d4 the march to Mexico. 

Vera Cruz; for although, by an unparalleled act of 
rashness, the fleet had been destroyed, there still 
remained one ship, which might be sent to Cuba for 
reinforcements and supplies. 

Good humouredly, and without a frown upon his 
countenance, Cortes received these expostulations, and 
replied by praising their valour, and reminding them 
that although they had had to encounter great difficul- 
ties, God had always been with them, and would never 
desert them. They must also do him the justice to 
admit that he had ever been foremost in danger, and 
had never shrunk from sharing their toils and suf- 
ferings. Then he concluded by saying, — "That as to 
destroying the ships, it was done by good advice;" 
and, "gentlemen," continued he, "our fame will far 
exceed that of the most illustrious of our predecessors, 
who never, as you are aware, dared to take such a 
measure ; and therefore, instead of repining, it is better 
to look forward, and leave all to be guided by the 
hand of God. As to our return, it is true the natives 
we have left behind are now friendly ; but if we seem 
to retreat, the very stones will rise against us. 
Therefore, gentlemen, thus it is ; bad there, worse else- 
where; better stay as you are here in a plentiful 
country; and as to what you say of losses, deaths, and 
fatigues, such is the fortune of war, and we did not 
come here in search of pastimes and amusements. 
Therefore, I beg of you, who are all cavaliers, by your 
station authorized to set an example, that you no 
longer will think of returning, but do your duty like 
the valiant soldiers I have always found you to be." 

The Yelasquez party replied; but Cortes, growing 



AN EMBASSY FROM XICOTENCATL. 155 

impatient, curtly answered, — "My friends, it is better to 
die at once than live dishonoured," — a sentiment that 
was so vociferously reciprocated by his friends and 
followers, that the malecontents were for the time 
quieted. What ordinary man could have made head 
against the difficulties by which the general was at 
that time beset, — a cunning and fierce enemy; a 
climate upon which no dependence could be placed; 
bodily illness ; a mind anxious as to the view the Span- 
ish court would take of his actions; and disaffection 
among those upon whom he mainly depended for the 
Conquest of Mexico. 

As we have seen, the Tlascalan general, Xicotencatl, 
refused to make peace with the Spaniards. At length, 
however, he was compelled to exhibit at least some 
show of obedience. Accordingly, the morning after the 
deputation had waited upon Cortes, they were surprised 
at the appearance of a small body of Tlascalans, attired 
in white, the emblem of peace. It was an embassy from 
Xicotencatl, bringing a message of amity, and a present 
of fowls, bread, fruit, and incense; also four old women, 
and a quantity of parrots' feathers. 

" Having offered their incense to Cortes, one of the 
men addressed him as follows : — * This present our 
general, Xicotencatl, sends you. If you are, as it is 
said, teules, and desire human sacrifices, here are 
these four women; take their hearts and blood for food ; 
as we know not your pleasure, we have not hitherto 
sacrificed them to you; now do as you choose with 
them. If you are men, here are fowls, bread, and 
fruit ; if you are benignant teules, we offer to you this 
incense and these parrots' feathers.' Cortes replied that 
he had already sent to them requiring peace, as th© 



156 THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 

object of tlie Spaniards in coming was to make manifest 
the truths of their hol}^ religion, and in the names of 
their God and emperor, to prohibit human sacrifices ; 
that they were men like themselves, but not accustomed 
to put any to death, except in their own defence ; and 
that consequently the Tlascalans should no longer con- 
tinue their mad resistance, but embrace peace when it 
was offered to them." 

To this the Indians replied that Xicotencatl was 
desirous of peace, and would speedily attend the Spanish 
general for the purpose of arranging its terms. Such joy 
did this intelligence give to the wearied Spaniards, that 
they welcomed the Tlascalan envoys as friends. 

It was now that, in all probability, the keen-eyed 
Dona Marina saved the Christians from destruction. 
She told Cortes that she suspected these ambassadors 
to be spies. They were seized and examined separately, 
when four confessed that they had been sent by 
Xicotencatl to observe the state of the Spanish camp, 
and that he was only awaiting their report to make the 
attack. Cortes immediately caused the hands of seven- 
teen of the party to be struck off, and in that condition 
sent them to their chief with the message, " That the 
Tlascalans might come when they would, by night or 
by day, but they would find the Spaniards ready for 
them." 

This cruel, though perhaps necessary act, terminated 
the Tlascalan war; for the very sight of their mutilated 
comrades filled the Indian camp with horror, and 
neither general nor soldiers would fight longer against 
a foe who, in their superstitious fear, they believed 
could read their very thoughts, and discover their 
plans before they were ripe for action. 



PEACE WITH THE TLASCALANS. 1 57 

Soon after, the great cliief came to the Spanish camp, 
and doing homage to Cortes, on the part of his nation, 
requested that the Tlascalans and the Spaniards might 
become friends, adding frankly, that his countrymen 
would be found to be as faithful in peace as they had 
been firm in war; and this these brave people were 
until the end. 

To say the least, it is remarkable that the emperor, 
Montezuma, who, from the first landing of Grijalva's 
party, had been in fear that the Spaniards were the 
people foretold by the old prophecy, who were to 
deprive him of his throne, should have sent no force 
against them. That he was not constitutionally a 
coward his antecedents prove. If, as contemporary 
writers assert, he entirely relied upon fate, why should 
he have made so many attempts to ward ofi* that which 
he must have considered the inevitable stroke, by 
peaceful embassies, magnificent gifts, and some very 
treacherous attempts at the destruction of the strangers. 
His conduct is inexplicable. For while the Christians 
had been steadily advancing towards the capital, fight- 
ing their way inch by inch, against not only his own 
soldiers, but his rebellious subjects, and even dreaded 
enemies like the Tlascalans, this great military chief, 
who had by his former prowess earned the title of the 
" terror of Anahuac," sat trembling upon his throne, 
panting with pusillanimous fear, and vainly praying 
to his gods that some chance might arrest the progress 
of the enemy. 

The advance of Cortes to Tlascala seemed one of 
the most hopeful of these chances; for Montezuma 
doubted not, that if once among that fierce people, the 



158 THE MAECH TO MEXICO. 

Spaniards ^voiild all be destroyed. But when the news 
was brought to him that these, the bravest warriors in 
Anahuac, had been so signally defeated by such a hand- 
ful of men, his superstitious fears knew no bounds, and in 
his alarm he sent another propitiating embassy to Cortes. 
This embassy reached the Spanish camp while the 
Tlascalan chiefs were engaged with Cortes making their 
overtures of peace and alliance. It consisted of five of 
the greatest of the Mexican nobles, and two hundred 
slaves, who bore three thousand ounces of gold, several 
hundred mantles and dresses of embroidered cotton and 
featherwork. "Laying this magnificent ofiering at the 
feet of the general, they told him Montezuma congratu- 
lated him upon his victories, and regretted that he 
could not receive him in his capital, for the population 
being so unruly, their safety would be endangered." 
The most pusillanimous part of the message, however, 
was an ofier on the part of the Mexican monarch to 
pay tribute to the Spanish king, if Cortes would refrain 
from visiting the capital. " It was indeed," as Prescott 
remarks, " displaying the rich casket mth one hand 
which he was unable to defend with the other." 
This the keen-sighted Cortes saw; for while, with a 
show of gratitude, he accepted the presents, the only 
reason he advanced for not complying with Montezuma's 
wishes was the direct command of his sovereign, who 
had ordered him to visit the Mexican emperor in his 
capital. But he added, as he had not then the means 
of requiting the generosity of Montezuma, he trusted 
to repay him at some future day with good works. With 
this answer the ambassadors returned, not a little 
chagrined at having to report to Montezuma the friend- 



ANOTHER EMBASSY FKOM MONTEZUMA. 159 

ship which now existed between his most dreaded 
enemies, the Tlascalans and Spaniards. 

In the city of Tlascala, which Cortes describes as 
being larger, stronger, and more populous than 
Granada in Spain, the general and his troops were 
received with great manifestations of joy, and for 
seventeen days partook of the hospitality of the brave 
and generous republicans. It was during this residence 
that Alvarado, the second in command, and Cortes, 
received those soubriquets by which they were ever 
after known to the natives. Alvarado, a great favour- 
ite, having a fair complexion and golden locks, was 
named Tonatiuh (the sun). Cortes being always 
attended by Dona Marina, whose Mexican name was 
Malinche, was distinguished by the same name. 

The account of the friendly feeling existing between 
the Tlascalans and Spaniards had such an alarming effect 
upon the weak Montezuma, that he despatched another 
embassy. The envoys, who now found Cortes in the very 
capital of their hated enemies, were charged not only 
with a magnificent present of embossed gold plate and 
richly embroidered mantles, but this time an invitation 
from the Mexican monarch to his court, with the assur- 
ance of a cordial welcome. There was a startling dif- 
ference between this message and that received before 
entering Tlascala, when Montezuma had offered to pay 
tribute to the Spanish sovereign if Cortes would only 
refrain from advancing to Mexico. But this invitation, 
as we shall see, veiled a deep and treacherous policy. 
That Montezuma was terrified at the new alliance was 
evident ; for the Mexican envoys, on the part of their 
sovereign, besought the Spanish general to enter into 

M 



IGO THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 

no further treaties with the base and barbarous Tlas- 
calansj and, moreover, to come to Mexico by way of 
the city of Cholula, where arrangements, according to 
his order, were being made for their reception. 

The Tlascalan chief, who seems to have entertained 
a sincere admiration for Cortes, begged him to forego 
his intended visit to Mexico, assuring him that if he 
went, his army would be entrapped by Montezuma, who 
was as treacherous as he was ambitious. " Trust not," 
said he, " his courtesies and his gifts : his professions 
are hollow and his friendships are false." But finding 
the general resolved upon going, they prayed him not 
to take the route through Cholula, where, they little 
doubted, some treachery was intended ; for the inhabi- 
tants, not brave in the field, were crafty and perfi- 
dious, and, moreover, devoted to Montezuma, whose 
bidding, be it what it might, they would assuredly per- 
form. Many other arguments were used by these 
friendly people to deter him from taking the proposed 
route; but Cortes, who probably desired to see the 
sacred city, the head-quarters of the religion of Ana- 
huac — its Mecca — the seat of its holiest shrines, or 
deeming it weak policy to show the slightest symptoms 
of fear of living man in that land, still adhered to his 
original resolve, and, after a consultation with his 
officers, ordered the advance to Cholula. 

The Tlascalans, astounded at the courage of men 
who, so few in number, would dare to brave the great 
Montezuma in his capital, ofiered a reinforcement of 
10,000 of the bravest of their warriors. Probably 
Cortes had not sufficient faith in their friendship to 
entrust his army in the midst of such a formidable con- 



IN CHOLULA. 161 

tingent, for all he accepted was 6,000 meu; and 
with this addition to his force he marched on to Cho-* 
lula, taking with him two of Montezuma's ambassadors, 
whom he had detained in his camp. Arriving in the 
suburbs, many of the Cholulan caciques came forth to 
welcome the Spaniards. At the sight, however, of their 
Tlascalan enemies, the chiefs exhibited signs of dis- 
pleasure, and intimated that their presence in the city 
might cause a commotion among the people. So rea- 
sonable did this remonstrance seem to the general, that 
he ordered his allies to remain where they now were, 
and to join him when he left the city on the way to 
Mexico. The Spaniards and their Cempoallan allies 
were received in Cholula with every sign of welcome. 
They were quartered within the court-yard of one of 
the largest temples, and, for a few days, so hospitably 
served, that all fear of treachery was dissipated. As 
for the suspicions of the Tlascalans, Cortes now imputed 
them to prejudice and old national hostilities. Soon, 
however, a change came over the scene. Some messen- 
gers arrived from Montezuma, and having first come to 
Cortes, and rudely forbidden his farther approach to 
the capital, held a conference with the Mexican ambas- 
sadors, still in the camp. From this time the Cholulan 
caciques no longer visited the Christians, the supplies 
were stinted on some small pretence. Some of the Cem- 
poallans also reported that they had observed several 
streets barricaded, and that the azoteas, or flat roofs, of 
many of the houses, were loaded with huge stones, as if 
preparatory to an assault; that in other places they had 
found holes covered with branches, and upright stakes 
placed therein, as if to embarrass the cavalry. All this 



1G2 THE M-ARCH TO MEXICO. 

was sufficiently alarming; but tlieir worst suspicions 
became confirmed beyond all doubt by the sudden ap- 
pearance of some Tlascalans, wlio told Cortes that a 
great sacrifice of children had been ofiered up in a dis- 
tant part of the town, to propitiate the gods, apparently 
for some intended enterprise ; moreover, they had seen 
numbers of the inhabitants leaving the city, with their 
women and children, as if to place them in safety; 
lastly, that at some distance from the town were 
encamped a large army of Aztecs. 

Cortes now felt himself fairly encircled in the web of 
a formidable conspiracy, in the midst of enemies, every 
house a fortress, his cavalry unable to act, and a strong 
force of Mexican troops at hand. To fight or retreat 
seemed eqvially impossible. But how intricate and 
well-planned that conspiracy was he was ignorant of 
until it was discovered by the vigilance of Doiia 
Marina, who in this, as in other instances, proved 
herself the guardian angel of the camp. 

The wife of one of the leading caciques, won by the 
pleasing manners of Marina, came one night to the girl, 
and intimating that the gods were about to visit the 
Spanish camp with heavy vengeance, besought Marina 
to fly with her to her own house, in order to escape 
the doom of the strangers. Marina had thus heard 
enough to make her desire to know more, so affecting 
much pleasure at the proposal, and, at the same time, 
hatred of the white men, who had so long held her 
captive, the Cholulan woman, thrown off her guard, 
divulged the plans of the conspirators. The con- 
spiracy, she said, originated with Montezuma, who had 
sent bribes to the great chiefs, her husband among 



TREACHERY OF THE CHOLULANS. 163 

others, and they had agreed to make an assault upon 
the Spaniards as they marched out of the city. The 
streets were barricaded, and pit-falls, with stakes, so 
placed that the cavalry could not act. There was 
a force of 20,000 Mexicans ready to support the 
Cholulans; and the invaders being thus defeated, a 
sujBS.cient number of prisoners was to be reserved for 
sacrifice at Cholula, while the rest were to be led in 
fetters to Montezuma. Marina begged the Cholulan 
lady would at once assist her in packing up some 
valuables and wearing apparel, which she intended 
taking with her, and in the evening she would find an 
opportunity of escaping from the camp. Leaving her 
visitor thus employed, the girl left, apparently for a 
few moments, but really to seek Cortes, who at once 
caused the cacique's wife to be secured. The terrified 
woman repeated her statement. Cortes, however, 
desired to have it fully established, for terrible was 
the vengeance passing through his mind. To do this 
he sent for two of the principal priests, whom he so 
well plied with Montezuma's own gold, that they con- 
firmed all the woman had divulged. It was now high 
time for Cortes to determine upon his plan for the 
frustration of the intended onslaught, so, dismissing the 
priests, he told them he proposed quitting the city 
the next morning, and therefore begged they would 
induce some of the principal men of Cholula to visit 
his quarters. He then held a consultation with his 
officers, during which he was interrupted by several 
of the caciques, whom the priests had persuaded to 
visit the camp. Dissembling his knowledge of their 
treachery, Cortes simply rebuked them for their want 



164 THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 

of hospitality, and said lie would no longer be a burden 
to their city, as he intended to depart early on the 
following morning. He requested, however, a rein- 
forcement of 2,000 men to transport his baggage 
and artillery. To this the caciques, no doubt thinking 
it would further their own ends, gave a ready assent, 
and departed. The wily Spaniard then sent for 
Montezuma's ambassadors, and related to them his 
discovery of the conspiracy, adding that the whole plan 
had been imputed to Montezuma. This the Mexicans 
denied, and as it was the policy of Cortes to keep on 
good terms with Montezuma, he affected credence in 
their denial ; for how could he, he said, believe that a 
monarch who had rendered the Spaniards so many 
friendly offices, could be guilty of such baseness? The 
ambassadors then left his presence, pleased that the 
general did not now believe in their master's guilt. 
That general, however, caused a very strong guard to 
be placed over these worthies, that during the night 
they might hold no intercourse with the Cholulans. 

What hours of suspense, of terrible anxiety, must 
the Spaniards have passed; sentinels were doubled; 
heavy guns posted so as to command the approaches to 
the camp; every man lay down in his arms; every 
horse stood saddled and bridled, ready for instant 
action. But during the night no hostilities were 
attempted. Of the morning, the dreadful day that 
followed, let the simple words of one who was present 
tell the tale. 

" When day broke," says Captain Diaz, " the hurry 
of the chiefs, priests, and people, and the satisfaction 
which appeared in their countenances, were as great as 



DISCOVERY OF THE PLOT. 165 

if they already had us in their cages. They brought 
many more of their warriors to attend iis^ insomuch 
that the courts, which remain to this day as a 
memorial of the event, large as they were, could not 
contain them. We were all prepared for what was to 
be done. The soldiers, armed with sword and buckler, 
were placed at the gate of the great court, in order to 
prevent any one from escaping, and our general was on 
horseback, attended by a strong guard. When he 
saw how the people crowded in he exclaimed, — ' How 
anxious are these traitors to feast upon our flesh ! But 
God will disappoint them.' He then sent directions 
to the two priests who had given information, to go 
immediately to their houses ; and this he did in order 
to save their lives. Then causing the rest of the priests 
and all the chiefs to be brought to him, he calmly 
asked them what was their reason for plotting to 
destroy us, and what we had done more than require 
them to abandon their abominable customs, and endea- 
vour to instruct them in the articles of our holy faith ; 
and that for these reasons only they had made pre- 
parations to cut us all off; that their evil inten- 
tions appeared by their having withdrawn the women 
from the town j and that when we required the provi- 
sions which they withheld from us, they had insulted 
us by sending in wood and water. He said that he 
knew of the ambuscade that was placed on the road 
which they expected us to go ; and that the recompense 
which they intended for our holy and friendly services 
was to kill and eat us, for which purpose the pots were 
already boiling, and prepared with salt, pepper, and 
tomatas; that if they were determined to attack us, 



166 THE MATICH TO MEXICO. 

it was better to do it in a manly way, as the Tlasca- 
lans did. He added, tliat lie also knew that twenty 
of "US were to be sacrificed to their idols, to whom 
they had made a propitiatory ofiering of seven of their 
brethren; but the victory the idols had promised them 
it was not in their power to give, and the effects of 
their treason were now ready to fall on their own 
heads. 

" This being successively explained to the natives by 
Dona Marina, they confessed the whole of the charge, 
but said that it was planned entirely by the orders of 
Montezuma. Cortes replied that such crimes were 
never suffered to pass without punishment, and he 
then commanded a musket to be fired as the signal for 
slaugliter, which was waited for by us, who were, as I 
have related, well prepared, and falling upon the 
multitude then inclosed within the courts, we executed 
their punishment on them in a manner that they will 
ever remember; for a number of them were killed by 
us instantly, and many afterwards burned alive, very 
contrary to the expectations they had formed from the 
promises of their gods. Within two hours our allies, 
the Tlascalans, arrived, and made a desperate slaughter 
of them in the streets, and as soon as the Cholulans 
had ceased to make resistance, the former ravaged the 
city, plundering and making slaves without our having 
it in our power to prevent them j and on the day after, 
when the intelligence had reached Tlascala, fresh 
hordes crowded hither for the same purpose. It was 
now absolutely necessary to restrain them at all risks. 
Cortes therefore ordered the chiefs to withdraw their 
troops, which they immediately did, and soon after, 



MASSACRE OF THE CHOLULANS. 1G7 

some priests and chieftains, who presided over other 
parts of the town, which they alleged not to have been 
engaged in the conspiracy, waited on lis and requested 
a remission of punishment. The two priests formerly 
mentioned^ and the old woman who was so anxious to 
be the mother-in-law of Doiia Marina, came also, and 
petitioned to the same effect. Cortes appeared greatly 
enraged, and calling for the Mexican ambassadors, 
declared in their presence, that if he did not destroy the 
whole city, as it deserved, it was out of respect to the 
great Montezuma, whose vassals the inhabitants were ; 
but that for his sake he pardoned them. He then 
commanded the Tlascalans to deliver up those whom 
they had made prisoners. This, however unwillingly, 
they in a great measure complied with, many persons 
being set at liberty ; but after all, they retained a good 
booty of gold, mantles, cotton, salt, and slaves." 

Thus, in that terrible day, 6,000 Cholulans were 
butchered by the Christian soldiers. To the present 
time it remains a foul blot on the fame of Cortes. 
As a matter of policy, there can be no doubt it served 
the purposes of the Spanish general ; for it struck terror 
into the heart of every man, woman, and child through- 
out Anahuac. But for the purposes of justice, and as 
an example of the punishment the Spaniards would 
deal out to all others who might contemplate similar 
treachery, the execution of the chiefs who planned 
the conspiracy, and who held the power of life and 
death over their people (the latter dared not but obey) 
would surely have been sufficient. 

After this indiscriminate slaughter, the general 
caused the city to be cleansed of its impurities, the 



1G8 THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 

temples to be purified, altars and crosses erected, the 
cages in wliicli captives were being fattened for 
sacrifice to be destroyed, and the poor creatures liber- 
ated. While thus occupied, another embassy arrived 
from the almost distraught Montezuma, bringing a 
valuable present of gold and dresses, and charged 
to disavow any complicity in the late conspiracy: 
nay, the cowardly prince even commended the general 
for the punishment he had dealt out to the Cholulans. 
"Cortes," says the chronicle, "received these ambas- 
sadors with his usual courtesy, and retaining three of 
them to go with him as guides, sent the others back to 
inform Montezuma that he was on his way to visit 
the capital." The gallant Tlascalans again endea- 
voured to persuade the general not to trust himself 
among the treacherous Mexicans ; but finding it in vain, 
they ofiered him a contingent of 10,000 warriors, 
2,000 only of whom he accepted. As for the Cem- 
poallans, who had been so faithful, they begged per- 
mission to return to their own country; for having 
ofiended their emperor beyond all hope of pardon, 
they dared not approach the capital. This loss Cortes 
greatly regretted; but as the request seemed reason- 
able, he granted it, and gave them also a letter of 
recommendation to his lieutenant, Juan de Escalante, 
Governor of Vera Cruz. 

The army now set out for the golden city. On the 
march the chiefs of several towns and villages came to 
Cortes, bringing presents and ofiering homage, warning 
him to beware of the treachery of the Mexicans. One 
party even saved him from falling into an ambuscade 
that had been prepared for him. As they passed the 



FIRST VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 169 

sides of the Popocatepetl, a volcano whicli rises to the 
height of 17,852 feet above the level of the sea, Ordaz, 
one of the cavaliers, led a party to the summit — a feat 
the natives declared no man could accomplish and live. 
When he not only came down again alive, but brought 
also some huge icicles, the Indians looked upon the 
Spaniards with increased awe, as men to whom the 
most terrific and wonderful feats were as mere sports 
and pastimes. 

Their sufferings became almost intolerable as they 
approached the capital ; for the icy winds which swept 
down the mountains brought with them a tempest of 
sleet and snow. Still they kept on their course uncom- 
plainingly, until, about eight leagues from Cholula, 
entering a gorge between two mountains, they saw 
that which promised ample compensation for all their 
toil and suffering. It was the valley of Mexico, which, 
with its picturesque view of water, woodland, its cul- 
tivated plains, thriving cities, and shadowy hills, was 
spread out before them. The effect upon the Spaniards 
at the first sight of that famous valley is thus admirably 
described by Prescott : — " In the highly rarefied atmo- 
sphere of these upper regions, even remote objects have 
a brilliancy of colouring and a distinctness of outline 
which seem to annihilate distance. Stretching far 
away at their feet were seen noble forests of oak, 
sycamore, and cedar; and beyond, yellow fields of 
maize and the towering maguey, intermingled with 
orchards and blooming gardens; for flowers, in such 
demand for their religious festivals, were even more 
abundant in this populous valley than in other parts of 
Anahuac. In the centre of the great basin were beheld 



170 THE MAECH TO MEXICO. 

the lakes, occupying tlien a mncli larger portion of its 
surface than at present ; their borders thickly studded 
with towns and hamlets, and in the midst, like some 
Indian empress with her coronal of pearls, the fair 
city of Mexico, with her white towers and p}T:-amidal 
temples, reposing, as it were, on the bosom of the 
waters, the far-famed ' Venice of the Aztecs.' High 
over all rose the royal hill of Chapoltepec, the resi- 
dence of the Mexican monarchs, crowned with the 
same grove of gigantic cypresses which at this day fling 
their broad shadows over the land. In the distance, 
beyond the blue waters of the lake, and nearly screened 
by intervening foliage, was seen a shining speck, the 
rival capital of Tezcuco, and, still farther on, the dark 
belt of porphyry girdling the valley around, like a rich 
setting which nature had devised for the fairest of her 
jewels." 

The first feeling among these toil-worn, weather- 
beaten veterans, was intense admiration and delight at 
being in sight of the longed-for, " the promised land !" 
But some among them remembered the warning of 
the Tlascalans, that they were but to enter into that 
valley as cattle to the shambles, and this running 
through the ranks, the majority clamoured to be led 
back to Yera Cruz, considering it a tempting of Pro- 
vidence to proceed. But Cortes and his chief officers 
flattered their vanity, appealed to their cupidity, 
shadowed forth to them the disgrace, if not the fatal 
consequences of retreat, aroused their avarice; and, as 
in every similar instance, succeeded ; for soon the most 
timid among them caught the enthusiasm of their 
leader, and, to the delight of Cortes, with buoyant 



EOYAL VISITOES. 171 

step, began the march down the slopes of the moun- 
tains. 

Upon reaching the plain they were met by another 
embassy from Montezuma. These men, as usual, 
brought magnificent gifts, but also an ofier from the 
emperor of four loads of gold for the general, one to 
each of the captains, and a yearly tribute to the King 
of Spain, if they would refrain from coming to the 
capital. 

The reply of Cortes may be imagined. They were 
to tell their master that it would be treason to his 
own sovereign to return home without visiting the 
emperor; moreover, that a personal interview would 
be far better than a distant negotiation; and lastly, 
that Montezuma would find the Spauiards came in 
peace; but should their presence prove burdensome, it 
would be easy for them to relieve him. 

Coming to Amaquemecan, a town built upon piles 
in the lake, and having canals instead of streets, they 
were made welcome by the cacique. Notwithstanding, 
however, this apparent hospitality, Cortes shot to death * 
some fifteen or twenty individuals whom he mistook 
for spies. At this place he was visited by another 
embassy ; but this time it was headed by Cacama, the 
King of Tezcuco, a nephew of the emperor. This 
prince, who was attended by a numerous suite of 
nobles, was borne in a palanquin, richly decorated 
with plates of gold and precious stones, having pillars 
curiously wrought, supporting a canopy of green 
plumes. As he came into the presence of Cortes, he 
descended from the palanquin, and having made the 
Mexican salutation to persons of high rank, by touch- 



172 THE MAKCH TO MEXICO. 

ing tlie earth witli his right hand and then raising it 
to his head, he told the general, who embraced him, 
that he was there as the representative of Montezuma, 
to bid the Spaniards welcome to the capital. He then 
presented Cortes with three large pearls of uncommon 
lustre, when the latter, in return, threw over the neck 
of the prince a chain of cut glass. After the inter- 
change of courtesies Cacama withdrew, leaving the 
Spaniards no less pleased with his person and graceful 
manner than astouished at his state, which exceeded 
anything they had hitherto seen in the country. 

Eollowing in the rear of the prince and his suite, 
the Spaniards set out for Iztapalapan, a town belong- 
ing to Montezuma's brother, Cuitlahuaj from whence, 
by a great causeway, Mexico was to be reached. Dur- 
ing this march the soldiers seemed to lose, in the 
beauties that surrounded them, all thought of pro- 
spective danger or treachery. The road was lined by 
multitudes of curious people. " But when we arrived 
at the causeway of Iztapalapan, which leads to the 
capital," says Diaz, in raptures, — " when we beheld 
the number of populous towns in the water, and firm 
ground, and that broad causeway, running straight 
and level to the city, we could compare it to nothing 
but the enchanted scenes we had read of in Amadis of 
Gaul, from the great towers and temples, and other 
edifices of lime and stone, which seemed to rise out of 
the water. To many of us it appeared as if we were 
in a dream. Nor need it be wondered that I so ex- 
press myself j for never yet did man see, hear, or dream 
of anything equal to the spectacle which appeared to 
our eye that day." 



IZTAPALAPAK 173 

In the city of Iztapalapan, the gardens of which at 
that time exceeded in beauty and arrangement any to 
be found in Europe, the Spaniards were received by 
many princes of the blood of Montezuma, who con- 
ducted them to their lodgings, which were in immense 
palaces built of stone and cedar, with spacious courts 
and apartments furnished with canopies of the finest 
cotton. The blue waters of the lake were transparent, 
and were only parted from the great lake of Mexico 
by a channel sufficient to admit the largest boats ; and 
in these bea^^tiful waters were reflected by the sun's 
rays the glittering edifices of Mexico. 

" To describe Mexico, the Mexico of Cortes' time," 
Arthur Helps tells us, " one ought to have seen all the 
wonders of the world, and should have for an audience 
those who had dwelt in Venice and Constantinople, who 
had looked down upon Granada from the Alhambra, 
and who had studied all that remains to be seen of the 
hundred-gated Thebes, of Babylon, and of Nineveh." 
And he is right, for it partook of all. Like Granada, it 
was surrounded by mountains. Like Venice, it was 
built upon piles and adorned with water. Its buildings 
were as grand as those of Babylon; and it was as rich 
with gardens as Damascus. Mexico was built upon 
the great salt lake of Tezcuco, which communicated 
with Chalco, a fresh- water lake. Upon both were 
floating gardens. The chief approaches were three 
great causeways, composed of large stones well laid in 
cement, and wide enough throughout for ten horsemen 
to ride abreast. At the end of these causeways were 
wooden drawbridges, and when these were drawn up 
the town became converted into a citadel. There was 



174 THE MARCH TO MEXICO. 

also a large aqueduct which communicated with the 
mainland, consisting of two separate divisions, so that 
the water supply of the city might not be interrupted 
if either needed repair. Some of the streets were of 
dry land, others of water, and a few had pathways of 
pavement, with room in the centre for boats. The 
palaces were magnificent and of great extent. Mention 
is made of one being so large that it contained a 
room which would conveniently hold 3,000 persons, 
and its flat roof would have served for a splendid 
tournament. Its market place, which was handsomely 
built and surrounded with stone porticos, was so vast 
that there was room for 50,000 persons to buy and 
sel] at one time. 



175 



CHAPTER YIIL 



THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO. 



It was on the 8tli of November, 1519, that Cortes and 
his party passed along the great causeway into the 
imperial city. The road, the lakes, the towers, temples, 
and houses were crowded with people assembled to 
gaze upon the wonderful white devils, and still more 
wonderful quadrupeds, of which they had heard such 
terrible stories. ",IFe," says Diaz, "were occupied 
by very different thoughts. Our number (Spaniards) 
did not amount to four hundred and fifty. We had 
perfectly in our recollection the accounts we had re- 
ceived on our march, that we were to be put to death 
on our arrival in the city, which we now saw before us 
was approachable only by causeways, whereon were 
several bridges, the breaking of one of which would 
effectually cut off our retreat. And now," he adds, 
with a pardonable boasting, "let who can, tell me 
where are men in this world to be found, except our- 
selves, who have hazarded such an attempt." Truly 
this brave little band had some cause to quake as they 
passed on ; for they were throwing themselves upon the 
hospitality of a warlike population of at least three 
Imndred thousand, whose supreme head would gladly 
have given one-half his empire to have sacrificed them 

N 



176 THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO. 

to his gods, and tlie brave princes who surrounded his 
throne would have effected this at his slightest intima- 
tion. But the superstitious fears of the weak sove- 
reign were to be the ruin of himself and his empire, 
and the salvation of the Spaniards. 

As the Europeans and their Tlascalan allies ap- 
proached the great street, which passed through the 
heart of the city, the glittering retinue of the Emperor 
of Mexico burst upon their sight. The royal palan- 
quin was one blaze of burnished gold, surmounted by 
a canopy of green feathers, powdered with jewels, and 
fringed with silver. It was carried by noblemen who, 
barefooted and with downcast eyes, walked at a slow, 
measured pace. As the procession apj)roached nearer, 
the army halted, and the general respectfully dis- 
mounted. Montezuma then alighted, supported by 
his brother, nephew, and two other great princes. 
The ground was strewn with tapestry that his imperial 
feet might not touch the ground; and the peoj^le of 
every rank, from artisan to prince, who lined the sides 
of the causeway, either prostrated themselves or cast 
their eyes upon the ground, as it would have been 
considered profanity to gaze upon the imperial person. 
Such was the slavish adulation of the Mexicans to 
their sovereign. 

Like his palanquin and the attire of his chief 
attendants, his dress was of barbaric magnificence. He 
wore a square cloak and girdle, sprinkled with pearls, 
emeralds, and other precious stones, richly embroidered 
sandals, with golden soles, the leathern thongs of which 
were embossed with the same metal and studded with 
jewels. Upon his head he wore an ornament of green 




Meeting of Cortes and Montezuma. 



COETES AND MONTEZUMA. 177 

(tiie royal colour) feather plumes. At that time Mon- 
tezuma was about forty years of age, tall, thin, black 
hair, and a complexion somewhat lighter than the rest 
of his copper-coloured race. 

The Mexican sovereign bade the Spanish general 
welcome to his capital. Cortes replied with the most 
profound expression of respect, and many acknowledg- 
ments of the magnificent presents he had received on 
his road to Mexico. He then placed around the neck 
of Montezuma a chain of coloured crystal, and attempted 
to embrace him. But this action was prevented by 
the Aztec princes, who were greatly horrified at the 
sacred person of their master being thus profaned. 
The Mexican monarch having then ordered his brother 
to conduct Cortes and his troops to the quarters pre- 
pared for them, withdrew. This was, however, only 
to show additional respect to the Spanish chief; for as 
the army approached the great palace which was to be 
their barracks, he was in the court-yard awaiting them. 

This building, which was of immense size, had been 
the palace of Montezuma's father, Azayacatl. As the 
general entered the court-yard the emperor approached 
him, and, throwing a gorgeous golden chain around his 
neck, said, " This palace belongs to you, Malinche, and 
your brethren. Repose yourselves after your fatigues, 
for you need it, and I will visit you again." So say- 
ing, with a delicacy scarcely to be expected in a bar- 
barian, he withdrew with his suite. 

The Spaniards had been received like beloved friends, 
or at least as the ambassadors of an allied and friendly 
sovereign, the character they assumed, rather than that of 
ruthless invaders. Cortes, however, did not forget the 



178 THE SPANIAEDS IN MEXICO. 

warnings he had received. 'No sooner, therefore, had 
the Mexican monarch quitted the palace than he roade 
a survey of the immense pile, and took the same pre- 
cautions as if he expected a siege. The place was 
surrounded by a stone wall of considerable thickness, 
with towers or heavy buttresses at intervals. There 
could be no better means of defence. He planted his 
cannon so as to command the approaches, stationed 
sentinels along the works, and enforced in every 
respect as strict a discipline as had been observed in 
any part of the march. Then, to avoid all possible 
collision between the soldiers and the people of the 
city, he forbade the former, under pain of death, to quit 
his quarters without permission. Only when he had 
thus provided for the general safety did he permit his 
followers to partake of a collation which had been 
ordered for them by the Mexican monarch. 

One can almost imagine that the courteous Monte- 
zuma had made himself acquainted with the minutest 
home customs of his guests ; for it was not until they 
had had time sufficient for the enjoyment of their 
siestas after dinner that he renewed his visit, when he 
was received by the general with great deference and 
respect. 

Taking Cortes by the hand, and leading him to a 
seat, the Mexican monarch complimented him and his 
associates upon their bravery, telling the general that 
he had heard of their doings since their landing, and 
was willing to confer all the favour in his power upon 
so distinguished a man. He further desired to know 
all about the country and government of the Spaniards, 
for he had no doubt that they were the men mentioned 



FIE ST GUyS FIRED IX MEXICO. 179 

in the ancient jDropliecy, ^ho, coming from where the 
sun rises^ were to govern over his dominions. More- 
OTer^ he desired to be told the difference in rank 
between his visitors, and vrh ether they were the 
kinsmen of the king of Spain. To which the general 
cautiously replied that neither he nor his men could 
ever requite the great favour they had already re- 
ceived from him; that the Spaniards certainly were 
the men to whom the ancient prophecy refen'ed, and 
were the vassals of a potent monarch named Don 
Carlos, who had many and great princes subject to 
him ; and who, having heard of the fame and great- 
ness of Montezuma, had sent him to request in his 
name that the Aztec emperor would embrace the holy 
Christian faith, by doing which he would save his 
own soul and those of his family and subjects. As for 
the particulars of the faith, it should be explained to 
his majesty hereafter. 

This conversation being concluded, Montezuma made 
the following presents : — To Cortes a quantity of 
golden ornaments; to each of the captains many similar 
valuables and three loads of mantles ; and to the soldiers 
cotton dresses sufficient to supply every man (including 
even the allies) with a suit each. Then, giving the 
general an 'invitation to visit him the next morning, the 
emperor withdrew; and Cortes, nominally to celebrate 
their arri^-al in the city, but really to confirm the 
natives in their notion that the Spaniards were super- 
natural beings, commanded a salvo of artillery to be 
fired. It had the desired eff'ect ; for as the thunder of 
the cannon, which shook the houses to their founda- 
tions, fell upon their ears, and they saw the sulphurous 



180 THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO, 

vapours rise above the encampment, the hearts of the 
superstitious natives became filled with dismay. 

The morning after his arrival in the city, Cortes, 
accompanied by four of his principal officers, proceeded 
to the imperial palace, an edifice " so spacious," says 
one of the conquerors, ^Hhat although on several 
occasions I visited this building for the express pur- 
pose, each time I was so fatigued by wandering through 
the apartments, that I gave up in despair the attempt 
to traverse the whole." 

When the Spaniards entered the magnificent hall of 
atidience, Montezuma arose and came half-way to meet 
Cortes, whom he took by the hand, and led to a 
seat upon the right of his throne. The general then, 
through Dona Marina, began a long and eloquent 
harangue, during which he expounded the mysteries 
of the Christian faith, explained the meaning of the 
cross, told of Adam and Eve and the creation, finishing 
by a tirade against the Mexican gods, whom he declared 
to be devils, and that he had been sent by his king 
to destroy them. 

Montezuma, who had listened attentively, replied, — 
" My Lord Malinche, I have already heard, through 
my ambassadors, of those things which you now men- 
tion, and to which hitherto we have made no reply, 
because we have from the first worshipped the gods 
we now do, and consider them as just and good. So, 
no doubt, are yours. In regard to the creation of the 
world, our beliefs are the same, and we also believe you 
to be the people who were to come to us from where 
the sun rises. To your great king I am indebted. 
There have been already persons on our coasts from 



MONTEZUMA AND COETES. 181 

your country. I wish to know if you are all the same 
people." When Cortes rejjlied that the. people of 
whom he spoke were subjects of the same prince, 
Montezuma, with more of courtesy than truth, said, 
that from the time he heard of their arrival he had 
wished to see them, and if they had been refused 
entrance into any of his cities it was the fault of his 
people, who did not believe them to be men, but furious 
teules, carrying with them thunder and lightning; 
but now that he had seen them, he would give them 
every proof of his friendship and good-will. Then, 
with a good-humoured smile, he added, " Malinche, the 
Tlascalans, your new friends, have, I know, told you 
that I am like a god, and that all about me is gold, and 
silver, and precious stones; but you now see that I am 
mere flesh and blood, and that my houses are built like 
other houses, of lime, and stone, and timber. It is 
true that I am a great king, and inherit riches from 
my ancestors; but for these ridiculous falsehoods, you 
treat them with the same contempt that I do the 
stories I was told of your commanding the elements." 

" No reliance can be placed upon the reports of 
enemies," replied Cortes. 

As he spoke, Montezuma gave a sign to one of 
his nobles, and almost instantaneously several slaves 
entered the hall, bearing chains, collars, and other 
ornaments of gold; also a quantity of fine stuffs for 
mantles. These he divided among the Spaniards; 
" whereupon, as it was the royal dinner hour," says 
Diaz, " we retired, impressed with respect for the 
great Montezuma, from his friendly manners and 
liberality." 



182 THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO. 

About four days after, under tlie pretence of curiosity, 
but really that be might examine the armaments and 
defences of the Aztec capital, Cortes asked permission 
to view the sights of the city. Ever ready to please 
his visitors, Montezuma granted the request; but 
fearing some insult might be offered to his gods, he 
took upon himself the office of cicerone. Both chiefs 
went in great state, — Cortes at the head of his cavalry, 
followed by the greater part of his countrymen; the 
Aztec sovereign borne in a magnificent litter, carrying 
a wand of state. The Spaniards were astonished at 
the many proofs. of civilization which met them at 
every step; the size of the houses, the markets, and 
manufactories, the vast crowds of people, and the order 
by which all seemed governed. But the great sight 
was the chief teocalli or temple. Montezuma was carried 
up the hundred and fourteen steps which led to the 
summit, by his nobles, who, out of respect, offered a 
similar service to Cortes. This courtesy, however, 
'the Spanish general declined, preferring to march up 
at the head of his men. On reaching the top, the first 
object that arrested their attention was a large block 
of jasper, the shape of which, and the blood, showed it 
to be the sacrificial stone. Montezuma, attended by 
the high priest, came forward to meet Cortes, saying, 
"You are weary, Malinche, with climbing to the top of 
our great temple." — " The Spaniards are never wearied," 
replied Cortes, thinking by such an answer to impress 
upon the Mexicans that his countrymen, if not teules, 
were more than mortals. Montezuma then taking the 
general by the hand, pointed out to him the different 
parts of the city. " From this place," says Diaz, " we 



SIGHTS IX THE TEMPLE. 1 S3 

were struck with the numbers of canoes passing to and 
from the mainland, loaded with provisions and mer- 
chandise; and we could now perceive that in this great 
city, and all the others of that neighbourhood which 
were built in the water, the houses stood sej^arate from 
each other, communicating only by small drawbridges 
and by boats, and that they were built with terraced 
tops. We observed, also, the temples and adorations of 
the adjacent cities, built in the form of towers and 
fortresses, and others on the causeway, all whitewashed 
and wonderfully brilliant. The noise and bustle of 
the market-place below us could be heard almost a 
leagvie off, and those who had been at Rome and 
Constantinople said, that for convenience, regularity, 
and population, they had never seen the like. Cortes 
now j^roposed to Father Olmedo to apply to Montezuma 
for permission to construct our church here, to which 
the father for the present objected, thinking it ill-timed. 
Cortes then addressing himself to Montezuma, requested 
that he would show us his gods. Montezuma, having 
first consulted his priests, led us into a tower where 
was a kind of saloon. Here were two altars, with richly 
wrought timbers on the roof, and over them gigantic 
figures resembling very fat men. The one on the right 
was Huitzilopoclitli, their war god, with a great face 
and terrible eyes. This figure was entirely covered 
with precious metals and stones, and his body bound 
with golden serpents; in his right hand he held a 
bow, and in his left a bundle of arrows. The little 
idol which stood by him represented his page, and 
bore a lance and target richly ornamented with gold 
and jewels. The great idol had round his neck the 
figures of human heads and hearts, made of pure gold 



184 THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO. 

and silver, decorated witli precious stones of a blue 
colour. Before the idol was a pan of incense, with 
three hearts of human victims, which were then 
burning, mixed with copal. The whole of that apart- 
ment, both walls and floor, was stained with human 
blood in such quantities as to give a very offensive 
smell. On the left was the other great figure, with 
a countenance like a bear, and great shining eyes of 
the polished substance whereof their mirrors are made. 
The body of this idol was also covered with jewels. 
These two deities, it was said, were brothers : the name 
of the last was Tezcatlipoca, and he was god of the 
infernal regions. He presided, according to their 
notion, over the souls of men. His body was covered 
with figures representing little devils, with tails of 
serpents; and the walls and pavements of this temple 
were so besmeared with blood, that they stunk worse 
than all the slaughter-houses of Castile, An offering 
lay before him of five human hearts. On the summit 
of the temple, and in a recess, the timber of which 
was most highly ornamented, we saw a figure, half 
human and the other half resembling an alligator, 
inlaid with jewels, and partly covered with a piantle- 
This idol was said to contain the germ and origin of 
all created things, and was the god of harvest and 
fruits. The wall and altars were bestained like the 
rest, and so offensive that we thought we jjever could 
get out soon enough. 

" In this place they had a drum of most enormous 
size, the head of which was made of the skins of large 
serpents. This instrument when struck resounded with 
a noise that could be heard to the distance of two 
leagues, and so doleful that it deserved to be named . 



Montezuma's indignation. 185 

the music of the infernal regions; and with their 
horrible sounding horns and trumpets, their great 
knives for sacrifice, their human victims, and their 
blood-besprinkled altars, I devoted them and all their 
wickedness to God's vengeance, and thought that the 
time would never arrive that I should escape from this 
scene of human butchery, horrible smells, and more 
detestable sights." 

Notwithstanding the rebuke of Father Olmedo, 
Cortes could not let the opportunity pass of reviling 
these hateful deities. " I do not comprehend," said 
he to Montezuma, ^' how a great and wise prince like 
you can put faith in such evil spirits as these idols, the 
representatives of the devil ! If you will but permit 
us to erect here the true cross, and place the images of 
the blessed Virgin and her Son in your sanctuaries, 
you will soon see how your false gods will shrink before 
them!" The emperor was aghast at such profanity. 
" These are the gods," he rejDlied, " who have led the 
Aztecs on to victory since they were a nation, and who 
send the seed-time and harvest in their seasons. Had 
I thought you would have offered them this outrage, 
I would not have admitted you into their presence." 
Cortes felt the time had not arrived for further re- 
monstrance; so, apologizing to Montezuma for having 
wounded his feelings, he descended to the base of the 
building. How must these poor souls have longed 
now for the hour when conquest would enable them 
to replace the foul abominations they here witnessed 
by the doctrines and practices of Christianity ! This, 
perhaps, steeled their hearts to many cruel deeds, but 
must have confirmed them in their belief that Heaven 



186 THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO. 

had directed tlieir footsteps into that land for its pur- 
gation : it should be told, however, in the simple lan- 
guage of an eye-witness. It was in the great square 
of the temple, " A tower, a true hell or habitation for 
demons, with a mouth resembling that of an enormous 
monster, wide open, and ready, as it were, to devour 
those who entered. At the door stood frightful idols ; 
by it was a place for sacrifice; and within, boilers and 
pots full of water to dress the flesh of the victims which 
was eaten by the priests. The idols were like serpents 
and devils, and before them were tables and knives for 
sacrifice, the place being covered with the blood which 
was spilt on those occasions. The furniture was like 
that of a butcher's stall, and I never gave this accursed 
building any name except that of hell. Having passed 
this, we saw great piles of wood, and a reservoir of 
water supplied by a j)ipe from the great aqueduct; aad 
crossing a court, we came to another temple, wherein 
were the tombs of the Mexican nobility; it was be- 
grimed with soot and blood. ISText to this was 
another, full of skeletons and piles of bones, kept 
apart, but regularly arranged. In each temple were 
idols, and each had also its particular priests, who 
wore long vestments of black, somewhat between the 
dress of the Dominicans and our canons; their long 
hair was clotted together, and their ears lacerated in 
honour of their gods." 

Notwithstanding the indignation of Montezuma at 
the insult oflered to his gods, he readily supplied men 
and materials for the building of a chapel within the 
precincts of the Spaniards' quarters. During the work 
the soldiers observed in one of the walls of the palace 



THE SPANIARDS FIND A TREASURE. 187 

what appeared to be a door plastered over. As tliey 
knew that the building had been the residence of a 
former emperor, and had heard that Montezuma kept 
his treasures there, forgetting the kind hospitality of 
their royal host, and with less of scruple than one 
would have expected from Spanish knights and gentle- 
men, they removed the plaster, when lo ! they beheld 
a large hall filled with rich and beautiful stufis, 
articles of curious workmanship of various kinds, gold 
and silver in bars and in the ore, and many jewels of 
value. It was the private treasury of Montezuma. 
"I was then a young man," says Diaz, "and I thought 
if all the riches of the earth had been brought into one 
place they could not have amounted to so much." This 
discovery must have been tantalizing to the greedy 
soldiers; for Cortes, feeling some scruple at appropriat- 
ing this wealth, ordered his followers to close up the 
wall and conceal their knowledge of the secret until 
the proper time should offer. 

By undaunted courage, great determination, and 
seizing every opportunity as it occurred, Cortes had so 
far succeeded beyond his most sanguine expectations. 
For not only had he fought his way step by step against 
immense odds until he had reached the heart of the 
Aztec empire, but he had been received with all the 
honour due to a prince, the ambassador of a powerful 
sovereign, the only character, indeed, in which he could 
have pretended, even with the slighest show of justice, 
to have visited the court of Montezuma. But now was 
the most difficult point of his whole career. His am- 
bassadorship, as we have seen, vfas a mere pretext; 
therefore, if he concluded a friendly treaty, however 



188 THE SPANIARDS IN ilEXICO. 

advantageous, with, tlie Aztec monarcli, and returned to 
SjDain or Cuba, Ms reward would be in all probability 
eitlier imprisonment or death. For traders, neither he 
nor his men were adapted; while as guests, their posi- 
tion was most dangerous ; for although they had been 
so kindly treated by the emperor, there was not one 
man among them who did not know that the most 
deadly hatred existed in the hearts of the chiefs and 
the people; nay, although they had been in the city only 
one week, rumours had reached the ears of Cortes 
that the Mexicans intended destroying the bridges. 
All this troubled the mind of the general. Day by day 
he feared to hear that the Governor of Cuba had landed 
a force, strong enough, perhaps, to wrest from him his 
present position, and, consequently, that glorious future 
upon which he had resolved. Hence arose in the mind 
of this extraordinary man the most daring and im- 
pudent scheme that ever crossed the brain of military 
leader. It was, for him, the chief of a paltry force, all 
of whom were within a fortified and densely populated 
city, the capital of an emjDire, to march to the palace 
and bring Montezuma to their quarters, by fair means 
if they could persuade him, but by force if necessary. 

"With such a pledge," he argued, "they would be 
safe from the assault of the Mexicans, who would be 
afraid by acts of violence to compromise the safety of 
their sovereign. If he came by his own consent, the 
people would be deprived of all apology for doing so. 
As long as the emperor remained among them, it would 
be easy, by allowing him a show of sovereignty, to rule 
in his name until they had taken measures for securing 
their safety, and the success of their enterprise." 



COKTES VISITS MONTEZUMA. 189 

Upon this audacious suggestion being made to the 
council, it seems that it was not accepted on the in- 
stant; for Captain Diaz says, — "This debate lasted a 
full hour. At length it was agreed to adjourn till the 
next day, and in the meantime we 'prayed to God to 
guide us in this difficulty.'''' The reason of this hesitation 
was not fear of the danger (for never in this world were 
men more fearless), but a pretext. This was not long 
wanting, for the day after the council, a Tlascalan came 
secretly to Cortes, informing him that a battle had 
taken place between the Spaniards of Yilla Eica and 
the natives of a neighbouring town called Almeria, in 
which Escalante, the governor, and six of his men had 
been killed. 

This was sufficient for Cortes> and he resolved upon 
seizing the good-natured king the next day. That 
night he slept not, for he Was heard pacing his apart- 
ment to and fro, like one oppressed by thought, and 
whose brain was concocting a great scheme. The 
following morning he asked and obtained an audience 
of the emperor. He went accompanied by five cava- 
liers, leaving orders that men should be posted at short 
distances between the barracks and the royal residence, 
so that communication should be kept up. He further 
commanded some twenty-five or thirty men, in groups 
of three or four at a time, to come to the palace as if 
by accident. The whole party were armed from head 
to foot — a circumstance, however, that attracted no 
especial attention, as such was invariably their custom. 

The general and his five companions were graciously 
received by the emperor, who entered into a sportive 
conversation with them, made them presents of gold 



190 THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO. 

and jewels^ naj, even offered to give Cortes one of his 
dangliters to wife^ an offer politely refused by the 
general, on the ground that he had one wife already, and 
that his religion forbade plurality. Then observing 
that by degrees a sufficient number of his soldiers had 
sauntered into the room, he changed his manner, and 
charged the emperor with having treacherously ordered 
the attack upon his soldiers in the tierra caliente. 

This charge Montezuma disavowed, and taking a 
signet-ring from his finger, gave it to a noble, with 
orders at once to bring Quauhpopoca, the chief of the 
Mexicans who had attacked the Spaniards, before him, 
that he might be examined. Cortes affected to believe 
in his innocence, but said, it was imj^ortant that his 
own sovereign should be equally convinced of it. 
Moreover, he had heard that the Aztec nobles were 
plotting the destruction of him and his army; there- 
fore, to jDrevent effusion of blood, it would be better for 
Montezuma to accompa^ny him and his officers to their 
quarters. Again, such an act of condescension would 
show a regard for the Spaniards incompatible with the 
base conduct A^dth which he had been charged. 

One can well imagine the monarch's amazement — 
that he became pale as death ; but almost immediately 
his face flushed with resentment, as with pride and 
dignity lie exclaimed, — "When was it ever heard that 
a great prince, like myself, voluntarily left his own 
palace to become a prisoner in the hands of strangers?" 
"Nay, my lord king," answered the audacious general; 
"you will not go as a prisoner; you will meet with 
nothing but respectful treatment from my men; you 
will be surrounded by your own household. In short, 



SEIZUHE OF MONTEZUMA. 191 

it will be but a change from one palace to another.'* 
"It is in vain you demand this," said the weak prince; 
even if I were to consent to such a degradation, my 
subjects would rise up against you and prevent it." 
He then prayed Cortes to save him that disgrace, 
offering to give the Spaniards a son and a daughter as 
hostages. 

The Spanish general either was, or affected to be, 
unwilling to proceed to extremities. Not so, however, 
Velasquez de Leon, who, fearing the danger of delay, 
and knowing well that nothing but the success of 
their attempt could prevent their ruin, arose, and in 
a loud voice, accompanied by fierce, menacing ges- 
tures, exclaimed, — " Why, sir, do you waste words on 
this barbarian 1 Let him yield himself our prisoner, 
or we will this instant plunge our swords in his body. 
Tell him this, and also, that if he says a word he dies. 
Better for us to assure our lives now, or perish at 
once. The barbaric sovereign, alarmed at the gestures 
and tones of the not less barbarous Christian soldier, 
turned to the interpreter. Dona Marina, to ask the 
meaning of his words. As mildly as she could, she 
explained them, and implored the monarch to accom- 
pany the white men to their quarters, where he would 
be treated with every deference and respect, while upon 
the other hand he would be exposed to violence, if not 
instant death. 

The strong reasons and gentle tones of his country- 
woman prevailed, and the great em^Deror, who, had he 
possessed the spirit of his ancestors, would have called 
liis guards around him and have died sooner than have 
thus disgraced his throne and people, got into his litter 



192 THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO. 

and proceeded to liis prison. As the procession passed 
through the streets^ the people, who had heard rumours 
that their prince was being carried away by force, flocked 
around by thousands, ready and willing to attempt his 
rescue. But the monarch consummated his dishonour by 
attempting to appease them. He commanded them to 
disperse, for he was visiting Jriends of his own accord. 

" Thus," says Diaz, " was the seizure of the great 
Montezuma effected. He was attended while with 
us in the same manner as in his own palace; his 
wives, family, and officers were with him, and he 
bathed every day. He appeared calm and resigned, 
and had always in his presence twenty councillors 
or chiefs. Ambassadors came to him on affairs of 
importance from distant countries, either to deliver 
tribute or with business which he despatched. I recol- 
lect that, however great the prince or chief might be, 
before he entered the king's presence he took off his 
rich dress and put on a j^lain one of the coarse manu- 
facture of Nequin, and in this habit^ and barefooted, 
approached the royal apartments, which he entered, not 
directly, but making a circuit by the wall ; and having 
come, with his eyes cast down upon the ground, into 
the presence of the king, he made three profound bows, 
and addressed him, calling him 'Lord, my lord, great 
lord.' He then displayed before him a cloth, whereon 
was painted and represented the business on which he 
came, the particulars of which he pointed out to him 
with little rods, or wands, delicately wrought and 
polished. During this time, two old lords stood by 
the king, and as soon as they had attentively considered 
all the particulars they gave their opinions upon it to 



CRUELTY OF CORTES. 193 

Montezuma, wlio despatclied the affair with a few words. 
The person who had brought it then, without making 
any replj, withdrew from the king's presence, making 
three profound bows, and keeping his face towards the 
throne till out of sight; and as soon as he was out of 
the royal apartments, he put on his rich dress and 
walked about the city." 

Por a time the poor kidnapped sovereign may have 
flattered himself that he was more of a guest than a 
prisoner, for the greatest respect and deference was 
paid to him by the army, not one of whom, from the 
general downwards, ever approached him without 
doffing his casque. A circumstance, however, speedily 
happened, that must have given him painful proof of 
the reality of his position. This was the arrival of 
Quauhpopoca, his son, and fifteen minor chiefs, who 
had come in obedience to the command of their sove- 
reign. They were examined by Cortes, who elicited 
that their attack upon Escalante's party had been 
ordered by Montezuma; whereupon he directed them 
all to be burned alive in front of the king's apart- 
ments. The funeral piles were made of heaps of 
arrows, javelins, and other weapons drawn from the 
imperial arsenal — a policy adopted by the general in 
order to deprive the citizens of weapons, in case of an 
intended war. 

"While the execution was proceeding, Cortes entered 
the emperor's presence, attended by a soldier bearing 
fetters in his hands. " You," said he, " are charged by 
your own instruments as having been the cause and 
contriver of the attack upon my soldiers. It is a 
crime meriting death in a subject, but even a sovereign 



194 THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO. 

must atone for it by some punishment." So saying, 
he ordered the man to fasten the fetters on the 
emperor's ankles, and then left the room. 

Montezuma was paralzyed, heart-broken; he ojBfered 
no resistance, but groaned in speechless agony. His 
nobles, bathed in tears, endeavoured to soothe his. spirit. 
They tenderly held his feet in their arms, and endeav- 
oured, by inserting their shawls and mantles, to relieve 
them from the pressure of the iron. But what mortal' 
power could have soothed one so recently hurled from 
his high place to so lowly, so degraded a position ? 

Cortes added mockery to torture ; for when the poor 
nobles had suffered their dreadful doom, he re-entered 
the royal presence, attended by his five captains, and 
having with his own hands removed the irons, ex- 
pressed his regret that so disagreeable a duty had been 
imposed upon him, as subjecting so great a man to so 
degrading a punishment. "But henceforth," said he, 
"we will be as brothers." We cannot but condemn 
Cortes for this wanton barbarity; still, it is scarcely 
possible to sympathize with the miseries of a sovereign 
who could, like a craven, spiritless poltroon, thank his 
deliverer for freeing him from these shackles, as if he 
had received a great and unmerited favour. 

Truly the events related in this chapter are some of 
the most marvellous in history. They may not even 
now be excused; still, we may read with some pleasure 
and instruction the reflections of one who had been 
an actor in them all. It is Captain Diaz who says at 
this stage of his chronicles, — " Now, let the curious con- 
sider upon our heroic actions : first, in destroying our 
ships, and therewith all hope of retreat; secondly, in 



SANDOVAL, GOVERNOR OF VERA CRUZ. 19 J 

entering the city of Mexico after the alarming warn- 
ing that we had received; thirdly, in daring to make 
prisoner the great Montezuma, king of all that country, 
in his own capital, and in the centre of his own palace, 
surrounded by his numerous guards; and fourthly, in 
publicly burning his officers in front of his palace, and 
putting the king in irons during the execution. Now 
that I am old, I frequently revolve and reflect upon 
the events of that day, which appear to me as fresh as 
if they had just passed, such is the impression they 
have made upon my mind. I say that it was not we 
who did these things, but that all was guided by the 
hand of God; for what men on earth would otherwise 
have ventured, their numbers not amounting to 450, 
to have seized and put in irons a mighty monarch, and 
publicly burned his officers for obeying his orders, in 
a city larger than Venice, and at a distance of 1500 
leagues from their native country ! ! !" 

After the terrible punishment of the great cacique, 
Quauhpopoca, and his followers, the Spanish general 
appointed Alonzo de Grado to the governorship left 
vacant by the death of Escalante. This post was one 
of singular importance; for Vera Cruz was the only 
port from which the Spaniards could communicate 
with Spain, or which offered them a retreat in the 
event of a disaster. De Grado, however, proving him- 
self unfitted for the command, and, moreover, in the 
interests of the Governor of Cuba, Cortes caused him 
to be arrested and sent in chains to Mexico, and 
appointed in his place Gonzalo de Sandoval, a young 
cavalier of great military capacity, and devoted to his 
general. 



106 



CHAPTER IX. 



CRITICAL POSITION OF CORTES. 

The Spanish general had now supreme control over the 
head of the Mexican empire. It was his crafty policy, 
however, to endeavour to prove to the people, if not to 
the monarch himself, that he remained in the Spanish 
quarters in the character of a visitor, and of his own 
will and desire. Thus Montezuma passed his days in 
no very different manner from that to which he had 
been accustomed in his own palace. He lived and was 
attended in the same state ; he received his nobles 
and people, and performed all the functions of govern- 
ment ; with his good friends the Spaniards he seemed 
on the best terms ; the general was as his brother, 
the chief captains as his intimates and companions; 
while a day seldom passed that he did not present 
some valuable gift to the subaltern officers and private 
soldiers, every one of whom he knew and could address 
by name. From Cortes he begged a Spanish page, 
whom he taught the Mexican language. True, when 
the friars endeavoured to effect his conversion, he would 
reply, — " The God of the Chi-istians was very good, but 
the gods of his own country were the true gods for 
him." Still, the Spaniards extracted a promise from 
him that he would take part in no more human sacri- 



CORTES BUILDS TWO BRIGANTINES. 197 

fices. Then he demanded permission to visit his great 
temple. Cortes consented; kindly sending with him 
what he termed an escort — a guard of honour of 150 
armed men ; and on his return, the spiritless prince, to 
curry favour with his captor, told his great chiefs, and 
through them his subjects, that not only was it by his 
own will that he remained at the Spanish quarters, but 
by the direct command of his god Huitzilopotchli. 

This power over the emperor, and apparent submis- 
sion of the people, did not cause Cortes to forget that 
he and his small force were in a city which, at any 
moment, by the hewing down of a bridge or two, might 
be cut off from the mainland, and thus pent up, become 
their tomb. He therefore asked leave to build 
two brigantines. Montezuma not only complied, but 
ordered a great number of his people to fell timber 
sufficient from his forests. The cordage, sails, and other 
materials were sent from Yera Cruz by Sandoval. In 
one of these vessels, when finished, the emperor and 
his suite — of course attended by Spaniards and brass 
guns (falconets) — crossed the great lake, and diverted 
himself by hunting. 

While Montezuma was thus submitting, with the 
best possible grace, to the golden chain with which he 
was bound, his indignant chieftains were watching their 
opportunity for the rescue of their monarch from a 
situation which they felt degraded every man in the 
empire. One of the most powerful of these, Cacama, 
King of Tezcuco, nephew to the emperor, called a 
meeting of the great chiefs, and set on foot an intrigue 
for his uncle's deliverance. But with 2,000 of his 
Tlascalan friends and allies in the city, information of 



198 CRITICAL POSITION OF CORTES. 

the conspiracy was sj)eedily brought to the Spanish 
general, \yho on the instant would have marched on 
Tezcuco, and trodden out the sparks of rebellion, as he 
called this patriotic effort; but Montezuma pointed out 
the danger of such an attempt, the courage and power 
of the young prince, and persuaded Cortes to send a 
message of amicable expostulation. 

To this message, which asserted the supremacy of the 
Spanish sovereign, the young prince retui-ned answer, 
" That he acknowledged no such authority. He knew 
nothing, nor did he desire to know anything, of the 
Spanish king or his "people." 

The spiritless monarch then sent a message himself 
to his nephew, begging that he would come to Mexico 
and mediate his differences with the Spaniards, who, 
he assured Cacama, were his friends. The young prince, 
who was not so easily to be duped, refused, adding, 
"That when he did visit his capital it would be to rescue 
it, as well as the emperor himself, and their common 
gods, from bondage. He should come, not with his 
hand in his bosom, but on his sword, to drive out the 
detested strangers who had brought such dishonour on 
their country." Cortes would at once have marched 
towards Tezcuco, but Montezuma offered to secure the 
person of the prince without bloodshed. He had in 
his pay some of the chief nobles of his nephew's court. 
These traitors attended a midnight meeting when the 
King of Tezcuco was aiTanging his plans for attacking 
the Spaniards. They suddenly seized him, and hurry- 
ing him to a boat, brought him to Mexico, where, with 
several confederate chiefs, who had also been taken 
prisoners, he was placed in chains. During no part of 



ANOTHER JIAGNIFICEXT GIFT. 199 

his captivity was Montezuma guilty of a more con- 
temptible or cowardly deed; and I think we can have 
no greater proof that, whatever influence his supersti- 
tious belief in the Spaniards, being those to whom the 
ancient prophecy referred, had upon his conduct, its 
motive spring was the safety of his own most wretched 
and degraded existence. 

From step to step Cortes was climbing the heights 
of authority. He next proceeded to make Montezuma 
call all his great chiefs around him, and, conjointly 
with himself, cause them to take the oaths of alle- 
giance to the Spanish sovereign. But more was to be 
done : the general required that the best proof of their 
jSubmission would be a magnificent gratuity. Again 
Montezuma commanded, and in a few weeks the ca- 
ciques retirrned, bringing large quantities of gold and 
silver plate and rich stuffs. To which Montezuma, with 
a regret that he had no more to offer, added the whole 
of the vast treasures discovered in the secret hall by 
the Spaniards while building their chapel. The spoil 
now was enormous, even after the fifth had been set 
apart for the monarch of Spain ; but in its apportioning 
among the soldiei's, a quarrel so serious occurred, that 
it required all the persuasive powers and authority 
of the general to prevent fatal consequences. 

The conquest of Mexico now seemed achieved with- 
out a battle. But to the religious and enthusiastic 
mind of Cortes, the most important task remained to 
be performed. Many times had he desired to destroy 
the idols, plant the cross, and convert the natives at 
the point of the sword; but as often had the more 
politic Father Olmedo dissuaded him from the attempt. 



200 CRITICAL POSITION OF CORTES. 

Now, however, that the suzerainty of the King of Spain 
had been acknowledged by the emperor and his great 
caciques, the whole people paralzyed with terror, and 
the very revenue placed at his disposal, he determined 
to purge the land of its hateful idolatry, and the hor- 
rible rite of human sacrifice. Accordingly, attended 
by his staff, he sought an interview, and demanded 
that the chief teocalli or temple should be converted 
into a church, wherein the Christian worship might be 
conducted in the presence, as it were, of the whole 
city. The emperor, foreseeing the consequences of 
such an act, prayed him to forbear. " Why," said he, 
" Malinche, will you urge matters to an extremity that 
must surely bring down the vengeance of our gods, and 
stir up an insurrection among my people, who will 
never endure this profanation of their temples," Cortes 
could not but admit, at least to himself, the probability 
of this ; so he offered to accept of one of the sanctuaries 
in the building, adding, " If that were not granted, his 
men should take it by force, and roll down the images 
of his false deities in face of the whole city." 

The emperor consulted with the priests, and the 
result was compliance Tvdth the demand. The Span- 
iards were delighted. In a short time the necessary 
alterations were made, and on first taking possession 
the whole army listened to the service of the mass; 
and as the Te Deum rose towards heaven, Cortes and 
his soldiers, kneeling on the ground, with tears stream- 
ing from their eyes, poured forth their gratitude to 
God for this glorious triumph of the Cross. 

Not many days after this last and greatest blow to 
the Mexicans (for the whole history of the world 



MONTEZUMA WARNS CORTES. 201 

proves that a people who will submit to every injury, 
insult, and violence, will at lengtli become aroused at 
any outrage upon tbe religion of their childhood, in- 
herited from a long line of ancestors), Montezuma 
summoned the Spanish general to his apartment. 
Cortes, feeling some distrust, took with him several 
of his captains. The Aztec monarch received them 
coldly, telling the general that his predictions had 
come to pass. The gods of his country had threatened 
the priests that they would forsake the city if the sac- 
rilegious strangers were not driven forth, or sacrificed 
upon their altars. Further, he told them that it was 
from regard to their safety he communicated this, 
adding, " If you have any regard for your own security, 
you will leave the country without delay; for, if I only 
raise my finger, every Aztec in the land will rise 
in arms against you." 

The general could not doubt the monarch's sincerity, 
nor the truth of his communication. Dissruisins:, how- 
ever, his alarm, he said that he should regret much to 
quit the capital precipitately, as he had no vessel in 
which to embark ; but for that he was willing to go. 
If, however, he did leave under these curious terms, the 
emperor must accompany him. 

Alarmed at this threat, Montezuma asked how long 
it would take to build the vessels, and consented to 
send a sufficient number of Aztec workmen to the. 
coast to help the Spaniards in their work. In the 
meantime, he would use all his influence to restrain 
the impatience of his people, under the assurance that 
the white men would leave the country when the 
vessels were ready. Cortes was compelled to appear 



202 CRITICAL POSITION OF CORTES. 

content with this; but he gave instructions to the 
Spanish shipbuilder who left for the coast, to make 
every possible delay, in the hope that, during the 
interval, reinforcements might arrive from Europe. 
Of what wonderful metal must this man have been 
made; for even now, with a whole empire in arms 
against him, he w^as determined to keep his ground ! 
From that moment the Spaniards knew no peace. 
The soldier, as he threw himself on his mat for repose, 
kept on his armour; his weapons never left his side; 
the horses all stood ready with the bridle hanging at 
the saddle bow; the guns were planted so as to com- 
mand the great avenues; sentinels were doubled, and 
every man, whatever his rank, took his turn in mount- 
ing guard. 

A few days after his startling interview with the 
emperor, Cortes received intelligence that a fleet of 
eighteen ships had anchored in the bay of San Juan, 
near his little city of Yera Cruz. To him, who had 
ever the fear of annoyance from the Governor of Cuba 
before him, this w^as so alarming that he at once 
despatched messengers to the coast, to gather joar- 
ticulars of the new arrival. Fifteen days of restless 
anxiety passed without the return of these men, when 
one day the general received an invitation to dine 
with Montezuma. During the dinner, the emperor 
astonished his guest by telling him he need not now 
delay his departure an hour, as a large fleet of ships 
was ready to receive him; and as he spoke he pro- 
duced an hieroglyphical map, upon which the newly 
arrived Spaniards, their vessels, and their whole equip- 
ment, were admirably delineated. His^ fears were now 



NEWS FROM THE COAST. 203 

confirmed : it could be no other tlian an armament 
sent by bis enemy, the Governor of Cuba. Dissembling 
bis cbagrin, be cried, as if witb deligbt at tbe rein- 
forcement, " Blessed be tbe Redeemer for bis mercies ;" 
and on retiu-ning to bis quarters, ordered cannon to be 
fired, and otber demonstrations of joy to be made. 
Tbis was to tbrow dust in tbe eyes of tbe Mexicans. 
Tbe tiTitb, bowever, was, tbat tbe boasted reinforce- 
ments consisted of 980 Spaniards, a number of beavy 
guns, and 1,000 Indians of Cuba, under tbe command 
of a Castilian hidalgo, Panfilo de Narvaez. Tbis officer 
bad been sent by tbe Governor of Cuba to take ven- 
geance on Cortes, whom be was authorized to super- 
sede. This information the general received from his 
commander, Sandoval, who also reported that Narvaez 
and bis army had encamped at Cempoalla. Soon after 
landing, Narvaez sent a priest named Guevara, accom- 
panied by a notary and three other Spaniards, to 
Sandoval, to demand the surrender of Yera Cruz. In 
making tbe demand, Guevara applied the word tmitor 
to Cortes, whereupon the indignant Sandoval said : 

" Look you, sir priest, but for your holy profession, I 
would have you punished for applying such an epithet 
to my general." Guevara, treating this with contempt, 
called to Yergara, the notary, to produce bis autho- 
rity; but, as be was opening tbe document, Sandoval 
exclaimed, — "Look you, Yergara, your papers are 
nothing to me; they may be true or false; but, by 
Heaven, if you attempt to read them here, I will on 
the instant give you five hundred lashes." "Why do 
you mind this traitor; read tbe commission," cried the 
enraged priest. " Thou art a lying knave," replied 



204 CRITICAL POSITION OF CORTES. 

Sandoval, and giving a signal to some Indians, tlie 
priest and his companions found themselves speedily 
bound hand and foot, and upon the backs of natives 
on their road to Mexico. With them Sandoval sent a 
soldier named Solis, who also bore the letter to Cortes 

Solis left the Spaniards at some little distance from 
the capital, while he went forward to seek the general. 
Having perused the letter and questioned Solis, Cortes 
speedily resolved what part to ]A'dj. He would receive 
these prisoners as friends; it would have a good effect 
upon the Mexicans. Accordingly, he ordered his 
troops under arms, and as the priest and his com- 
panions entered the city, they were astonished to 
find themselves received with military honours. The 
general further apologized for the rudeness of San- 
doval, and, says Diaz, " He gave them such hospitable 
entertainment, treated them with such respect, and so 
well lined their pockets with gold, that in a few days 
he sent back, as tractable as lambs, those who had set 
out against him as fierce as lions." 

Cortes was a master in craft; for these men, being 
so well received, their eyes gratified and astonished at 
the sight of the wealth gained by his soldiers, and 
their ears well filled with all the good, and none of 
the bad fortunes they had encountered, would, without 
doubt, on their return, do much to obtain recruits 
from the ranks of the very man who was marching to 
supersede him. Having thus primed Guevara and 
his companions, he sent them back to Cempoalla, 
bearing a letter to Narvaez, in which he besought 
him not to proclaim their animosity to the world, 
and, by kindling a spirit of insubordination in the 



CORTES' MESSAGE TO NARVAEZ. 205 

natives, unsettle all that had been so far secured. A 
"violent collision must be prejudicial even to the victor, 
and might be fatal to both. It was only in union that 
they could look for success. He was ready to greet 
him as a brother in arms, to share with him the fruits 
of conquest, and — if he could produce a royal commis- 
sion — to submit to his authority. Cortes could safely 
make the latter promise, for he well knew Narvaez had 
no such document to show. 

But after the departure of Guevara and his com- 
panions, the general sent Father Olmedo as special 
envoy to Narvaez. The real purport, however, of 
Olmedo's mission was, by valuable presents and won- 
derful stories, so to excite the avarice of the soldiers 
that they might desert from Narvaez to Cortes. In 
this he was materially aided by the accounts given by 
Guevara and his companions, of the frank, generous, 
and liberal manner of Cortes, and the wealth in his 
camp, where the humblest private could afford to stake 
his ingot or chain of gold at play. All this the 
troops contrasted with their own position, and the 
known meanness of their general, from whom thence- 
forth they became so much estranged that an easy 
victory was prepared for Cortes. 

A very different effect was produced upon Narvaez, 
who, treating Cortes' letter with contempt, declared 
that he would march upon the rebel, and put him in 
chains as a traitor. One of the chief officers openly 
boasted that he would cut off his ears and broil them 
for breakfast. We shall see how little they knew of 
the great man of whom they spoke so disparagingly. 

"When Cortes found that an amicable arrangement 



206 CRITICAL POSITION OF CORTES. 

with Narvaez was hopeless, he might well have trem- 
bled at the difficulties before him. To remain in 
Mexico and await his enemy, would give the latter 
time to gather a great force of Indians; for Narvaez 
had promised to liberate their sovereign. If he marched 
against him, he must abandon the city, the emperor, 
and the fruits of his gi'eat toil, as, by leaving a gar- 
rison to hold the Mexicans in subjection, he must 
cripple his strength, already too weak to meet the force 
of Narvaez. He resolved, however, upon the latter. 
So, having exacted a promise from Montezuma that he 
w^ould remain on as friendly terms with his lieutenant 
as with himself, he appointed Pedro de Alvarado to 
command in his absence, and, with a force only of 
70 men, set out for Cempoalla. 

Portune ever helps those who help themselves; so 
at Cholula Cortes fell in with Yelasquez de Leon and 
120 men, whom he had sent sometime before to fouud 
a colony, and further on their route, with the brave 
and faithful Sandoval, who, with 60 men, had come to 
meet his general. With ' this force, amounting now 
to 265, only 5 being mounted, he marched unceasingly 
until he had reached Cempoalla, within a league of 
Narvaez's force, from which he was divided by a small 
river. Upon the bank he rested his men, ordering 
them to prepare for a night attack. 

While Cortes and his little force had been making 
their forced marches, Narvaez remained in Cempoalla, 
Avasting his time in frivolous amusements. Prom this 
lethargy he was at length aroused by an old cacique, 
who said, — " Why are you so heedless ? Do you think 
Malinche is so ? Depend on it, he knows your situa- 



BATTLE BETWEEN CORTES AND NARVA EZ. 207 

tion exactly, and, when you least dream of it, will be 
upon you." Narvaez marched his troops towards the 
river, arriving there on the very day that Cortes had 
reached the opposite bank. The latter had hidden 
his men among the tall jungle, and Narvaez, seeing 
no enemy but the rain, which, falling in torrents, made 
the drenched soldiers cry out impatiently, — "Let us 
return to Cempoalla ; of what use is it to remain here 
fighting with the elements," returned to his quarters, 
intending to go forth again the following morning, 
believing that he was secure, for no mortal army could 
pass that torrent on such a night. 

The enemy having thus sought repose and shelter 
from the elements, Cortes and his troops, chiefly by 
aid of their long spears, forded the furious stream; 
and in the darkness of night, beneath torrents of 
lain and a beating wind, marched forward silently, 
stealthily, without beat of drum or sound of trumpet, 
till they came upon two sentinels. One was secured; 
but the other, escaping, gave the alarm. The sleep- 
ing Narvaez was awakened; the trumpets sounded 
to arms. " Espiritu Santo ! Upon them !" was the 
war-cry of Cortes. The battle was short but furious. 
To the darkness alone it was owing that only fifteen 
of Narvaez' s troops and three of his enemies were 
killed. Narvaez fought like a brave knight, and 
it was only when crying " Santa Maria ! I am slain !" 
that the followers of Cortes shouted, "Victory! vic- 
tory ! live our king and Cortes, for ISTarvaez is dead !" 

The next day Narvaez (who had only been wound- 
ed) and several of his captains were taken before the 
victor. "You have great reason, Seiior Cortes, to 



208 CRITICAL POSITION OF CORTES. 

thank fortune for giving yon tlie victory over me,'* 
said Narvaez. " I have much to be thankful for," re- 
plied the conqueror; "but as for my victory over you, 
I esteem it one of the least of my achievements in this 
country." In this reply there was more of pride than 
truth, for it was one of the most brilliant in his career. 
When the prisoners had been sent under a strong 
guard to Yera Cruz, Cortes began to reap the benefit 
of his generous treatment to Guevara and his com- 
panions, and his crafty policy in sending Olmedo to 
Narvaez's camp; for such great things had his late 
enemies heard of him, that they all enlisted beneatli 
his banner. Thus again fortune befriended him; but 
in less than a fortnight after his victory, he received 
astounding intelligence from Alvarado, his lieutenant 
at Mexico. 

" The Mexicans had arisen in arms, attacked the 
Spaniards in their own quarters, burnt the brigan- 
tines by which Cortes had secured the means of retrea 
in case of the destruction of the bridges, attempted to 
force the defences, and had poured such a tempest of 
missiles into the garrison, that several troops had 
been killed and many wounded." 

Nothing ofi'ers greater proof of the greatness of a 
general than quick resolve and rapidity of action. 
This was terrible news. Even then the garrison might 
have been all killed; for Alvarado had concluded his 
letter by begging his chief to hasten to their relief if he 
would save them from destruction or retain his hold 
on the city. As if refreshed, rather than exhausted, 
by the late expedition, Cortes set out for Mexico. 
We have seen what toil and sufferiug attended that 



THE MARCH BACK TO MEXICO. 209 

upward march, yet its description in the simple lan- 
guage of Diaz almost takes away our breath, — "When 
w^e received this news," says he, " God knows how it 
afflicted us ! We set out by long marches for Mexico, 
leaving the prisoners iu Yilla Rica, under the custody 
of Kodorigo Rangel, who also had directions to collect 
all the stragglers, and to take care of the invalids, of 
whom there were many. At the moment we were 
ready to march arrived four principal noblemen from 
the court of Montezuma, to lodge a formal complaint 
against Alvarado for having assaulted them when 
dancing at a solemn festival in honour of their gods, 
which he had permitted them to hold, whereby, in 
their own defence, they had been forced to kill seven 
of his soldiers. Cortes replied to them in terms not 
the most pleasing, saying, he would soon be at Mexico 
and put all in proper regulation; with which answer 
they returned, very little, indeed, to the satisfaction of 
Montezuma, who felt the insult strongly, many of the 
natives being killed. 

"In consequence of this intelligence, Cortes exhorted 
the troops of Narvaez to forget past animosities, and 
•Qot lose this opportunity of serving his Majesty and 
themselves, exposing to their view the riches they 
would acquire, so that they one and all declared their 
readiness to proceed to Mexico — a resolution they never 
would have taken if they had known the force of the 
city. Ey very long marches we arrived at Tlascala, 
where we learned that until the time that Montezuma 
and the Mexicans got intelligence of the defeat of 
Narvaez, they had never ceased making attacks upon 
Alvarado; but when they heard of our success they 



210 CRITICAL POSITION OF CORTES. 

desisted, leaving the Spaniards greatly fatigued and 
distressed by their continual exertions and want of 
water and provisions. This information was conveyed 
by two Indian messengers, who arrived at the moment 
we entered Tlascala. Here Cortes made an inspection 
of our army, which now amounted to 1,300 men, 
nearly 100 of whom were cavalry, and 160 were cross- 
bow men and musketeers. Two thousand warriors of 
the Tlascalans having joined us, we pursued our route 
by long marches to Tezcuco, where we were very ill 
received, and everything bore the appearance of dis- 
affection." 

Having halted a sufficient time to refresh his wearied 
troops, Cortes resumed his march along the southern 
margin of the lake, which led over the same causeway 
by which he had first entered the capital. It was St. 
John's Day, 1520; but how different his reception from 
the former invasion, when the emperor himself had 
come to meet him ! No crowds now lined the roads, 
the bridges between the houses were taken up, and, 
with the exception of a few Indians who stood silently 
and moodily in the doorways, the whole city seemed 
depopulated. The scene was sad, gloomy, and dispirit- 
ing ; but to arouse tho spirits of the troops, as well as 
warn the garrison of his coming, he ordered the 
-trumpets to sound. In reply to the shrill, clear notes 
borne across the waters, they were answered by joyous 
peals of artillery, and soon the liberating army was at 
quick march, traversing the great drawbridge into the 
city, where to their dismay they saw that many of the 
smaller bridges had been thrown down ; and, now the 
brigantines were destroyed, it would be no difficult 



EETURN TO THE CAPITAL. 211 

matter for the Mexicans to cut off their retreat. As, 
however, they entered the great gates of the palace 
which formed their barracks, both parties for a time 
forgot their fears and troubles in their joy at their 
reunion. 



212 



CHAPTEE X. 



THE EETHEAT FEOM MEXICO. 



As may be imagined, the first inquiries of the general 
were as to the cause of the tumults. Various accounts 
were given by different persons, but all agreed that it 
was chiefly owing to the violence of Alvarado. It was 
the custom of the Aztecs to hold a great festival in 
honour of their chief god, in the month of May. As it 
was kept in the court of the great temple near the 
Spanish quarters, the caciques asked permission of 
Alvarado to perform their rites there as usual. They 
also solicited the presence of their emperor. The latter 
request was refused; but with the former Alvarado 
complied conditionally, that no human sacrifices should 
be celebrated, and that they should come unarmed. 

Six hundred of the Mexican nobility assembled on 
the day of the festival, attired in magnificent costume, 
their beautiful mantles of featherwork were sprinkled 
with jewels, and their necks, arms, and legs ornamented 
with collars and bracelets of gold. The Spanish soldiers, 
as if from mere curiosity, yet armed from head to foot, 
attended, many within the walls, others at the gates or 
entrances of the temple. The Mexicans soon became 
engaged with their religious songs and exciting dances, 
with which they commemorated this great festival, wheu 



MASSACKE OF AZTEC NOBLES. 213 

suddenly, at a concerted signal, Alvarado and his men 
rnshed upon them with drawn swords. The scene that 
ensued beggars description. Unprotected by armour, 
without weapons, the miserable natives were hewn to 
pieces by their iron-hearted remorseless enemies. Some 
fled to the gates, but were caught upon the long pikes 
of the soldiers ; others attempted to scale the great wall 
which surrounded the area, but shared the same fate, 
or were cut to pieces or shot dead. "The pavement," 
says a contemporary writer, "ran with streams of blood, 
like water in a heavy shower. Not one was left alive. 
It was a repetition of the massacre at Cholula, with the 
shameful addition that the Spaniards rifled the bodies 
of their rich ornaments. Not a family of note but had 
mourning and desolation brought within its walls." 

Alvarado gave as his reason for this massacre, the 
discovery, by his spies, of an intended rising of the 
native population, which was to be inaugurated at this 
festival. He had, therefore, forbidden them to wear 
arms ; but while affecting to comply, they had secreted 
some in the neighbouring arsenals. Thus, by striking 
the dreadful blow, he had anticipated them, and hoped 
he had for ever deterred the Mexicans from a similar 
attempt. Few historians believe in this intended rising 
of the natives, at least npon that occasion ; for the arms 
said to have been hidden were never discovered. But 
whatever may have been Alvarado's motive for this 
rash and most wicked deed, its consequences nearly 
proved fatal to the garrison; for the Aztecs, rising as 
one man, attacked the Spaniards with such determined 
bravery, that but for the intervention of Montezuma, 
who still possessed great influence over his people, not 



214 THE EETREAT FROM MEXICO. 

one would have been left alive to greet Cortes on Lis 
return. And who shall say that they would not have 
merited their fate ? 

When the general had heard Alvarado to the end of 
his story, his brow darkened. " You have done badly," 
said he ; " you have been false to your trust ; your con- 
duct has been that of a madman," and, abruptly turning 
on his heel, he left him in undisguised anger. It was 
well for Alvarado that Cortes could not spare one so 
important at such a crisis, for we cannot doubt that his 
punishment would have been in proportion to his 
crime. 

The Spanish general now found himself at the head 
of a respectable force, consisting of not less than 1,250 
Spaniards and 8,000 Tlascalans. But the difficulty of 
finding food for so many, as the Mexicans had now cut 
ofi" their supplies, the coldness with which he had been 
received by the natives on his march back to the capital, 
still more the rashness of Alvarado, made him peevish 
and irritable. Thus, when some Mexican nobles came 
to request him to receive their sovereign, he replied, — 
"What have I to do with this dog of a king who suffers 
us to starve before his eyes ? " His officers remonstrated, 
reminding him that but for the emperor the garrison 
must have been destroyed. But this did only the more 
irritate him, and he replied, — " Did not the dog hold 
communication with Narvaez? Does he not now suffer 
his markets to be closed, and leave us to die of famine 1" 
Then addressing the Mexicans, he said, fiercely, — " Go, 
•tell your master and his people to open the markets, or 
we will doit for them at their cost." The general had 
hitherto kept his temper throughout every difficulty. 



I 



niSING OF THE AZTECS. 21-5 

At no point in his career liad it been so necessary that 
lie should have had it under control. 

That answer sank deeply into the minds of the 
haughty Mexican chiefs. Montezuma replied, that 
he and his chiefs were prisoners ; Cortes might there- 
fore set free and send whomsoever he chose, to give 
the necessary order for the supply of provisions, 
Upon this the latter released Cuitlahua, Lord of 
Iztapalapan, Montezuma's brother. This was bad 
policy; for that chief being presumptive heir to the 
throne, the people no sooner saw him among them 
again, than, regarding him as the representative of 
their sovereign, they hailed him as their leader against 
the detested Spaniards. Cuitlahua willingly accepted 
the post, began to organize the masses, and arrange 
his plan of operations, and very speedily gave proof 
of his military capacity and energy. Cortes first 
obtained information of the movements of the 
enemy from a messenger whom he had sent to Yera 
Cruz to report his safe arrival in Mexico. This man 
had left the Spanish quarters scarcely half an hour, 
when h€! returned, breathless with terror and covered 
with wounds. "The city," he cried, "is all in arms, 
the drawbridges are raised, and the Mexicans will soon 
be upon us." 

" He spoke truth," says the historian. " It was not 
long before a hoarse, sullen sound became audible, like 
that of the roaring of distant waters. It grew louder 
and louder, till, from the parapets surrounding the 
enclosure, the great avenues which led to it might be 
seen dark with the masses of warriors, who came rolling 
on in a confused tide towards the fortress. At the same 



21 G THE RETREAT FROM MEXICO. 

time tlie terraces and azoteas or flat roofs in the neigh- 
bourhood were thronged with combatants, brandishing 
their missiles, who seemed to have risen np as if by 
magic." Cortes, whose hitherto easy conquest had led 
him to underrate both the determination and courage 
of the Mexicans, made two or three desperate sallies • 
but neither the skill, bravery, or firearms of his troops 
could enable them to prevent the enemy from driving 
tLem back, and setting fire to their quarters in various 
places. In this day's fight the casualties of the Span- 
iards were eighty wounded. 

At daylight the Aztecs recommenced the attack with 
great fury, and although the artillery made dreadful 
havoc in their ranks, so immense were their numbers, 
that Diaz says, "Even if we had been 10,000 Hectors 
of Troy, and as many Roldans, we could not have beaten 
them off; nor can I give any idea of the desperation of 
this battle; for though, in every charge we made upon 
them, we brought down thirty and even- forty, it was 
useless, for they came on again with more spirit than 
at first." The Spaniards on that day sallied forth 
several times, but although they performed prodigies 
of valour, they were obliged to retreat. The last time 
it was with great difficulty they managed to regain 
their quarters. After the last charge, as Cortes was 
fighting his way back, he beheld Duero, his secretary, in 
a street, unhorsed and defending himself against a body 
of Mexicans with his poignard. The general shouted 
his war-cry, and dashing into the midst of the enemy, 
scattered them like chaff before the wind ; then recover- 
ing Duero's horse, he enabled him to remount, when 
the two, striking their spurs into their chargers, cut 



EXULTATION OF THE ENEMY. 217 

tlieir way through a host of Indians to the main body 
of the army. 

As the Spaniards and their allies retreated, the pur- 
suing Aztecs continued to shout, " The gods have at 
last given you into our hands. Huitzilopotchli has 
long cried for victims — the stone of sacrifice is ready — 
the knives are sharpened — the wild beasts in the palace 
are roaring for their offal." To the Tlascalans they 
shouted, " The cages are waiting for the false sons of 
Anahuac, who are to be fattened for the festival." 

The result of this day's fighting was disheartening; 
nay, would have been appalling to a less heroic spirit 
than Cortes ; for the enemy for whom he had hitherto 
entertained such contempt was to be counted by 
hundreds of thousands, and their bravery such that 
veterans who had fought in the Italian war against the 
great Turk and the artillery of France, declared they 
had never seen men fight with greater desperation, or 
fill up their ranks with such order and rapidity. But 
the Spanish general was determined to win against 
even such tremendous odds; so, although severely 
wounded in the hand, he at once set one party to work 
repairing the breaches in the fortifications, and another 
to make four mantas. These were tall wooden towers 
on rollers, made of light beams and planks, with two 
chambers, one above the other. These chambers were 
to be filled with musketeers, who could keep up a heavy 
fire from loopholes in the sides, as they were dragged 
through the city. The chief object of these machines 
was to afford protection for the troops from the 
missiles hurled by the enemy from the tops of their 
houses. 



218 THE RETREAT FROM MEXICO. 

While, however, these machines were building, it 
occurred to Cortes that Montezuma, who had befriended 
the Spaniards upon so many occasions, might still 
possess sufficient influence over his people to stay what 
he was pleased to term the insurrection. Regardless, 
therefore, of his recent rudeness to the Aztec sovereisfn, 
he sent an officer to request his interposition. 

The poor emperor, however, had seen from his apart- 
ment the destruction of his subjects by those with whom 
he was allied, and feeling some remorse for his past 
conduct, and mortification at seeing his brother filling 
his place, he replied coldly, — " What have I to do with 
Malinche ? I do not wish to hear from Mm. I desire 
only to die. To what a state has my friendship for 
him reduced me." Again and again the Spanish officer 
begged of him to comply ; but he answered, — " It is of 
no use ; the people will neither believe me nor the false 
promises of Malinche. None of you will ever leave the 
city alive." On being assured, however, that the Span- 
iards would willingly quit the city if a road was opened 
to them, to spare the blood of his subjects he at length 
complied. Accordingly, attired in his imperial robe, and 
holding in his hand the golden wand or sceptre, he 
ascended the central turret. In an instant the emperor 
was recognized, the tumult became hushed, numbers 
prostrated themselves, others bent the knee ; not a man 
present but would have spent the last drop of his blood 
to have saved him from insult. When, however, he 
addressed them, declaring, " That he was no prisoner, 
that the Spaniards were his guests and friends, with 
whom he was staying by his own free will, and could 
leave at pleasure; and lastly, earnestly exhorted them 




Death of Montezuma. 



DEATH OF MONTEZUMA. 219 

to lay down their arms, and go to their homes," a 
murmur ran through the crowd ; exclamations of con- 
tempt were uttered, — " Base Aztec !" they cried, "miser- 
able coward ! the white men have made you a woman, 
fit only to weave and spin." Then, at a signal from a 
chief of rank, a cloud of stones and arrows fell among 
the royal train. The Spaniards attempted to shield the 
monarch with their bucklers. It was too late ; Monte- 
zuma fell senseless to the ground. The people, how- 
ever, shocked at their sacrilegious crime, set up a 
dismal howling, and fled in all directions. 

As for the miserable prince, the reviling of his people 
had been sufficient to cause him to wish for death; 
therefore, although his wounds were not necessarily 
fatal, he refused all treatment, tore off the bandages 
that had been applied, and, summoning to his aid one 
spark of his former dignity, resolved to die, for he had 
outlived his honour. Perceiving his end approaching, 
the Spaniards exhorted him to become a convert to 
the Christian faith. Father Olmedo held the crucifix 
before him, and begged that he would embrace it. 
" No," replied the expiring monarch ; " I have but a few 
moments to live, and will not at this hour desert the 
faith of my fathers." Then calling Cortes to his bed- 
side, he earnestly begged him to recommend to the 
care of the King of Spain his three daughters ; and the 
general having promised, the spirit of Montezuma took 
flight to that haven where "the wicked cease from 
troubling, and the weary are at rest." To the besieged, 
who it would appear really loved the prince, it was a 
mournful hour. Diaz says, — " Cortes and our captains 
wept for him, and he was lamented by them, and all 



220 THE RETEEAT FROM MEXICO. 

the soldiers wlio had known liim, as if he had been 
their father; nor is it to be wondered at, considering how 
good he was." One of his enemies, a Tlascalan historian, 
subsequently wrote, — " Thus died the unfortunate Mon- 
tezuma, who had swayed the sceptre with such consum- 
mate policy and wisdom, and Avho was held in greater 
reverence and awe than any other prince of his lineage, 
or indeed that ever sat on a throne in this western 
world." The Spanish general showed due respect to 
the body of the emperor. It was arrayed in the 
imperial robes, and borne upon the shoulders of 
some Aztec nobles to the head-quarters of their 
countrymen. 

The position of the Spaniards had now become des- 
perate, for the great temple, which was within a few 
roods distance, had been seized by the chief warriors, 
to the number of six or seven hundred. These from the 
summit kept up such a tempest of arrows on the garri- 
son, that no man could quit his post for a moment 
without great danger. Moreover, while the Spaniards 
were so terribly exposed, the Mexicans, under shelter 
of the sanctuaries, were entirely covered from the fire 
of the besieged. To dislodge them from this position, 
Cortes had thrice sent out a party under Escobar, 
his chamberlain, but as many times was that officer 
repulsed. The general therefore, although wounded, 
determined that he would lead the next storming party 
in person. 

Fastening his buckler upon his left arm, which was 
disabled by a severe wound, he sallied out at the 
head of 300 picked cavaliers and several thousands 
of Tlascalans. In the court-yard of the temple he 



ATTACK UPON THE GREAT TEMPLE, 221 

was received by a large body of the enemy. These 
he quickly dispersed by a brisk charge. The pave- 
ment, however, was so slippery that the horses could 
not keep their feet. So, hastily dismounting, the 
animals were sent back to their quarters. Then, 
with desperate bravery, the Spaniards, headed by 
their general, and beneath a terrible shower of missiles 
and arrows, fought their way, step by step, until they 
had gained the summit. The area here, which was 
paved with broad flat stones, was large enough to 
afford a fair field of fight for 1000 combatants, but 
without either parapet or battlement, so that the least 
slip would precipitate the soldiers more than 100 feet. 
At one part of the area there were two temples of 
stone — the one occupied by the Mexican war-god, the 
other consecrated to the Cross. Hence the Christian 
and the Aztec fought beneath the shadows of their 
respective signs. The fight was fierce and bloody, and 
of terrible interest to the contending parties beneath, 
who, as if by mutual consent, stood gazing upwards 
with breathless anxiety for the result. For three 
hours the death struggle continued, and the Spaniards 
were victorious ; for with the exception of two or thi-ee 
priests, whom they had made prisoners, of the hun- 
dreds of Aztecs who had received their enemy upon 
that area, not one remained alive. Their bodies either 
lay stretched upon the encrimsoned pavement, or had 
been hurled from the giddy height into the court-yard 
below. During this hand-to-hand struggle Cortes had 
a narrow escape. Two powerfully-built Mexicans had 
seized, and were dragging him violently towards the 
brink of the pyramid. Before, however, they could 



222 THE RETREAT FROM MEXICO. 

accomplish their purpose, the general had succeeded 
in freeing himself, and hurled one of them into the 
depth below. 

The temple being thus carried, the soldiers pulled 
down the hideous god, upon whose altar they were 
horrified at seeing the bleeding hearts of their own 
comrades still smoking, and, to the terror and dis- 
may of the Aztecs, tumbled it down the steps of the 
building; after which they set fire to the entire edifice. 
This time they had no difficulty in reaching their 
quarters, from whence, at night, they made another 
sortie upon the town, and burned 300 houses. 

According to his custom after a victory, Cortes 
summoned the chiefs to a parley, and through Dona 
Marina he beseeched them to lay down their arms 
and return to their obedience. "You must now be 
convinced," he said, " that you have nothing to hope 
from further opposition. You have seen your gods 
trampled in the dust, your dwellings burned, your 
warriors slain : all of which you have brought on your- 
selves by your rebellion." He concluded by threat- 
ening to make the city a heap of ruins if they did not 
comply. 

But the Mexicans knew their own strength and 
the weakness of their enemy. Moreover, they were 
now fighting for liberty or death. So they replied.T— 
"It is true you have destroyed our temples, and 
killed our countrymen, and many more may fall 
beneath your terrible swords; but we are content 
while for every thousand Mexicans we can shed the 
blood of but one white man. Look," they continued, 
*^our streets are thronged with warriors as far as 



FIERCE DEFIANCE OF THE AZTECS, 223 

your eyes can reach. Your numbers are decreasing 
every hour. You are perishing from hunger and sick- 
ness. You must soon fall into our hands. The bridges 
are hrohen down, and you cannot escape. There will 
be too few of you left to glut the vengeance of our 
gods;" and, as they finished, they sent a cloud of 
arrows that compelled the Spaniards to descend and 
take refuge in their defences. 

This fierce defiance, and the announcement that all 
the bridges had been destroyed, sounded upon the 
ears of the soldiers as their death-knell. Those men 
who had been recruited from ISTarvaez's force, and who 
formed a large majority of Cortes' army, now broke 
out into open mutiny. They had been led to expect 
an easy march, and a speedy return to Cuba with 
their pockets lined with Mexican gold; instead of 
which they had met with nothing but privation, 
disaster, and wounds: indeed, many had fallen upon 
that sacrificial stone with which all were now threat- 
ened. They therefore refused to serve any longer in 
defence of a place where they were penned up like 
sheep in the shambles awaiting to be slaughtered, and 
clamoured to be led forth at all hazards; for any death 
would be better than starvation or sacrifice. 

So fierce an enemy without, so mutinous an army 
within, would have paralyzed the energies of most 
leaders. Cortes, however, coolly and calmly surveyed 
Ids position. The hazard of a retreat through such a 
desperate and watchful foe was great, nay, almost 
impossible. And greater was his mortification at sur- 
rendering a city, the lordship and treasures of which 
were to purchase or propitiate the favour of his sove- 



224 THE RETREAT FROM MEXICO. 

reign, and secure him an amnesty for his past irregular 
proceedings. Still, retreat lie must; for even he felt 
that his soldiers had not magnified that necessity. 
But how, if all communications were cut off with the 
mainland ? Tlie latter report might have been exag- 
gerated by the enemy. He would examine for him- 
self. So he ordered a sally in the direction of the 
great causeway leading to Tlascala. The next day he 
commanded the mantas to be manned and rolled forth. 
As these machines moved onwards, belching fire and 
smoke upon all sides, the enemy gave way in terror. 
From these moving towers the men within were enabled 
to fire upon a level with the enemy, upon the roofs of 
the houses; and when this did not silence them, by 
letting a ladder or light drawbridge fall on the roof 
from the top of the manta, they opened a passage to 
the house tops, so that they could close in hand-to- 
hand fight. Thus protected by a force in front, which 
destroyed barricades and houses, and supported by 
another in the rear, these machines were moved for- 
ward to the street of Tlacopan, which led direct to the 
great causeway. There, however, the intervention of 
a canal rendered them useless. Moreover, Cortes saw 
that the enemy had destroyed the bridge. At once, 
therefore, he ordered the mantas to be abandoned, 
and one large body of troops to fill up the chasm 
with stone, timber, and the debris from the ruined 
buildings. This was done with astonishing celerity, 
and a passage thus made for the army. The cavaliers, 
shouting their war-cry, now dashed forward, bearing 
down all before them till they were stopped by another 
canaL Here they had to perform a similar operation, 



DESTEUCTION OF THE BRIDGES. 225 

and indeed at five other points ; for no less than seven 
canals, all the bridges of which had been destroyed, 
intersected this street. However, by incessant fight- 
ing and toil, which lasted two days, the general at 
length had established, or rather re-established, the 
line of communication ; as he passed onwards leaving 
a strong guard of infantry at every bridge. When 
he had reached the extremity of the street, near the 
causeway, Cortes was informed that the Mexicans, 
now disheartened, desired to hold a parley with him, 
and for that purpose were awaiting his return to the 
fortress. Delighted at this news he galloped back to 
his quarters, attended by Alvarado, ■ Sandoval, and 
other cavaliers. Pending the coming interview, the 
general and his staff were taking some refreshments* 
when he received information that the enemy were in 
arms again, and fighting with greater fury than ever ; 
moreover, that they had overpowered the detachments 
at the bridges, which they were once more demolishing. 
Enraged at being thus duped, Cortes and his officers 
were speedily in their saddles, and at the head of the 
cavalry, driving the Mexicans down the street like 
frightened deer. Before, however, he could reti'ace 
his steps, multitudes pouring forth from the neigh- 
bouring lanes and streets had seized one of the prin- 
cipal forts and destroyed the bridge. The scene that 
took place here is thus described by Prescott. 

"The confusion became greater around the broken 
bridge. Some of the horsemen were thrown into the 
canal, and their steeds floundered wildly about without 
a rider. Cortes himself at this crisis did more than any 
other to cover the retreat of his followers. While the 



226 THE RETREAT FROM MEXICO. 

bridge was repairing, lie plunged boldly into tbe midst 
of the barbarians, striking down an enemy at every 
vault of bis charger, cheering on his own men, and 
spreading terror through the ranks of his opponents 
by the well-known sound of his battle-cry. Never did 
he display greater hardihood, or more freely expose his 
person, emulating, says an old chronicler, the feats of 
the Roman Codes. In this way he stayed the tide of 
assailants, till the last man had crossed the bridge, 
when, some of the planks having given way, he was 
compelled to leap a chasm of full six feet in width, 
amidst a cloud of missiles, before he could place him- 
self in safety. A report ran through the army that the 
general was slain. It soon spread through the city, to 
the great joy of the Mexicans, and reached the fortress, 
where the besieged were thrown into no less consterna- 
tion. But happily for them it was false. He, indeed, 
received two severe contusions of the knee, but in other 
respects remained uninjured. At no time, however, 
had he been in such extreme danger; and his escape, 
and that of his companions, was esteemed little less 
than a miracle. More than one grave historian refers 
the preservation of the Spaniards to the watchful care 
of their patron apostle, St. James, who, in these des- 
perate conflicts, was beheld careering on his milk white 
steed at the head of the Christian squadrons, with his 
sword flashing lightning, while a lady, robed in white 
— supposed to be the Virgin — was distinctly seen by 
his side, throwing dust in the eyes of the infidel ! The 
fact is attested both by Spaniards and Mexicans — 
by the latter after their conversion to Christianity. 
Surely never was there a time when the inter- 



MIRACULOUS ASSISTANCE OF THE SPANIARDS. 227 

position of their tutelar saint was more strongly- 
demanded. " 

As the darkness of night came on the Indians retired, 
leaving the pass in possession of the Spaniards, who, 
with slow step and dispirited, battered armour, and 
fainting from loss of blood, returned to their fortress. 

The troops were now more clamorous than ever to 
quit Mexico, and Cortes being convinced of its dire 
necessity, lost no time in preparing for the retreat. It 
was to be by the great causeway. Moreover, it must 
take place on that night; for a soldier named Botello, 
who was of respectable demeanour, and spoke Latin, 
had been at Eome, and was believed to be a necro- 
mancer or astrologer, inasmuch as some things he had 
foretold had chanced to come true, had four days before 
foretold, that if the Spaniards did not quit Mexico on 
a particular night, not one would ever leave the city 
alive. 

We can hardly believe that this prediction had much 
influence upon Cortes; still that night was chosen for 
the retreat. A portable bridge was constructed of 
timber, for the conveyance and care of which 150 
Spaniards and 400 Tlascalans were appointed. This 
pontoon was to be used wherever it might be found 
the Mexicans had destroyed the bridge. The artillery 
was placed under the care of 50 Spaniards and 250 
Tlascalans, while the prisoners, and that native lady 
so important to the army, Dona Marina, was entrusted 
to an escort of 300 Tlascalans and 30 Spaniards. 
The van-guard of the army was led by Sandoval; the 
rear-guard by Alvarado and Velasquez de Leon, whose 
troops consisted chiefly of Narvaez's recruits. Cortes^ 



228 THE RETKEAT FROM MEXICO. 

with a few cavalry and 100 foot, was to assist in the 
passage of the centre; in fact, to act as a reserve, and 
to be at hand wherever the fight might be thickest. 
The sick and wounded were to be taken upon the 
cruppers of the horsemen. "When all was ready," 
says Diaz, " Cortes ordered all the gold which was in 
his apartment to be brought to the great saloon, which 
being done, he desired the officers of his Majesty, A. de 
Avila and Gonzalo Mexia, to take his Majesty's due in 
their charge, assigning to them for the conveyance of it 
eight lame or wounded horses and upwards of eighty 
Tlascalans. Upon these were loaded as much as they 
could carry of the gold, which had been run into large 
bars, and much more remained heaped in the saloon. 
Cortes then called to his secretary, Hernandez, and 
other royal notaries, and said, ^ Bear witness that I can 
be no longer responsible for this gold. Here is to the 
value of above 600,000 crowns; I can secure no more 
than what is already jDacked; let every soldier take 
what he will ; better so than that it should remain for 
those dogs of Mexicans." As soon as he had said this, 
many of IsTarvaez's soldiers, and also some of ours, 
fell to work, and loaded themselves with treasure. 
I never was avaricious, and now thought more of saving 
my life, which was in much danger. However, when 
the opportunity thus offered, I did not omit seizing out 
of a casket four calchihuis, those precious stones so 
highly esteemed amongst the Indians; and although 
Cortes ordered the casket and its contents to be taken 
care of by his major domo, I luckily secured these 
jewels in time, and afterwards found them of infinite 
advantage as a resource against famine." 



THE TERRIBLE NIGHT. 229 

At midnight on the 1st of July, 1520, having first 
attended mass, this heroic band set forth. It was a 
dark night, with a drizzling rain falling. As they 
passed through the city the whole population seemed 
wrapped in sleep. They had even reached the end of 
the street which opened upon the causeway; as they 
expected, no bridge was there, and those entrusted 
with the duty began to lay down the pontoon; nay, the 
vanguard under Sandoval had passed over, also Cortes 
and his party; but before the other could follow, some 
Mexicans cried out, " Taltelulco ! Taltelulco ! out with 
your canoes; the teules are going, attack them at the 
bridges." Then the great drum of the city Avas sounded 
by the priests, and speedily the heavens were rent with 
the yells and war-cries of myriads of warriors, who 
suddenly swarmed over land and lake. The rain now 
fell so heavily that some of the horses, becoming restive, 
fell off the bridge into the water; but still the army 
marched steadily forward, the horsemen shaking off 
their assailants, and riding over their bodies, while the 
infantry drove them headlong over the dike; and at 
length, though attacked upon all sides, and themselves 
only fighting on the defensive, all had passed the pon- 
toon, and the party who had it in charge proceeded to 
raise it, but the weight of the cavalry and artillery, as 
well as the thousands that had passed over, rendered 
its removal impossible; it had become fastened in the 
dike. Now commenced the horrors of the night. The 
Mexicans fell upon the pontoon bearers with such 
ferocity that the water at that part became filled with 
dead and dying Tlascalan men and women, baggage, 
boxes, artillery, and prisoners; many were slain, many 



230 THE RETEEAT FROM MEXICO. 

drowned, numbers carried away for sacrifice. " It was 
dreadful," says Diaz, " to hear tlie groans and cries of 
tlie unfortunate sufferers, calling for assistance, and 
invoking the Holy Virgin or St. Jago, while others, 
clambering up the dead bodies and baggage, thinking 
themselves safe, were there seized or knocked on the 
heads with clubs." 

All order and discipline were now lost, and the 
retreat had become an indiscriminate slaughter; still 
they pressed forward helter-skelter, in their eagerness 
to escape treading down friend or foe. The leading 
files had come to the next bridge-way, and so great 
was the pressure from behind that numbers were 
forced into the gulf Sandoval and his cavaliers 
dashed into the water, and swam their horses to the 
opposite bank. Others failed, and some who did 
reach the opposite bank, being overturned in its ascent, 
rolled, horse and man, headlong into the lake. The 
infantry followed pell-mell, suffering fearfully from all 
sides. At each of these bridge- ways a similar scene 
ensued. Cortes, either galloping along the causeway 
or swimming his horse in the water, sought to restore 
order; but finding this impossible, he and his gallant 
comrades, Olid, Morla, and Sandoval, had kept in 
advance, leading his broken remnant of an army off 
the causeway. They had so far escaped; but a rumour 
reaching these brave men, that the rear guard must 
inevitably be destroyed if not relieved, they turned 
their horses and galloped back towards the last open- 
ing in the causeway. On the road they met Alva- 
rado unhorsed, lance in hand and badly wounded, 
with several Spaniards and soldiers all severely hurt. 



THE TERRIBLE NIGHT — ALVARADO's LEAP. 23] 

Alvarado told Cortes that there was no use ia going 
further back, for all that remained alive were with 
liim. A wonderful feat was told of Alvarado at this 
last bridge-way. He had been unhorsed, and was 
pursued to the very brink of the chasm — the water 
swarmed with canoes — escape seemed hopeless. A 
moment's thought, and setting his lance firmly on the 
bodies and debris of military material in the bottom 
of the lake, he gave one spring and cleared the wide 
gap at a leap. To this day that spot is known to 
every inhabitant of modern Mexico as the Salto de 
Alvarado, or " Alvarado's Leap." 

Upon Alvarado's assurance that none other remained 
behind, Cortes and his cavaliers again turned their 
horses' heads and pushed on for Tacuba. At Popotla, 
a village en route, the hero dismounted, and, sitting 
upon the steps of an Indian temple, shed tears as the 
broken files of his once fine force passed by him. Mars 
himself would have wept at the sight. The cavalry 
were mostly dismounted, there were few who were not 
wounded, many a dear companion missing, their bright 
arms soiled and battered, their proud crests and ban- 
ners gone, baggage, artillery, all lost. During that 
night, la noche triste — " the melancholy night," Cortes' 
loss had been 450 Spaniards and 4,000 Tlascalans. Of 
the rear guard, formed principally of Narvaez's men, 
few escaped, chiefly, it is said, from their having been 
overladen with gold; — all the artillery, the greater 
part of the baggage and treasure, the general's papers, 
including his accounts and a minute diary of the 
transactions since leaving Cuba — a loss posterity will 
ever regret. Of all the splendid arms which had 



232 THE RETREAT FROM MEXICO. 

rendered tlie Europeans so superior to the Indians, 
but few remained, — not even a single musket, tlie men 
having thrown them away to expedite their flight, — 
nothing, in short, but their swords and a few damaged 
cross-bows. 

Among the most notable of the Spaniards who fell 
were Botello, the astrologer, Francisco de Morla, and 
Juan Yelasquez de Leon, the near relation of the 
Governor of Cuba. This knight, who had first joined 
Cortes in the interest of his relative, had become so 
attached to his general, aud had acquitted himself so 
well in every position, that Cortes deplored his loss 
not only as a dear friend and comrade, but, next to 
Sandoval and Alvarado, as the most important of his 
captains. To the list of those slaughtered we may add 
the two sons and nephew of Montezuma, the latter 
that young king of Tezcuco who had been so treacher- 
ously delivered over to the Spaniards by the instru- 
mentality of his uncle, I^Iontezuma. 



233 



CHAPTER XL 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

Had the Aztecs posted a force upon the other side 
of the causeway, so as to have met the retreating 
Spaniards in the front, the latter must inevitably 
have perished to a man. Probably the same result 
would have happened had they followed up their 
victory by a pursuit. When, however, the remnant 
of the Christian army had passed on to the main- 
land, the Mexicans stayed to bury their dead, for 
the streets were strewn with many thousand bodies. 
This allowed the Spaniards to reach some villages 
unmolested. Here they came to a halt for the night, 
and feasted upon a dead horse and some wild cherries. 
The next day they proceeded on their march to Tlas- 
cala; but by this time the chiefs of the towns en route 
had aroused their people, who harassed the little band 
upon all sides, so that they had to fight their way inch 
by inch, each day gi'owing weaker and weaker — for the 
wounded and the sick died upon the road — while the 
enemy grew bolder and more numerous. Upon the 
seventh day they came to the mountain rampart 
which overlooks the plains of Otumba. At the base oi 
this mountain they halted for the night. The next day 
somewhat refreshed in body, and in better spirits — for 



234 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

tliey flattered themselves, as they were now approach- 
ing friendly Tlascala, they were in safety — they set 
out again. But as they were ascending the mountain 
steeps they saw that its crest was covered with Mexi- 
can warriors; nay, not alone its crest, for the general, 
in his letter to the king, describing this battle, says, — 
" Neither in front, nor in the rear, nor in the flank, 
could any of the ground be seen which was not covered 
by Indians." 

" The troops resigned all hope, and commended their 
souls to Heaven." But again did Cortes prove him- 
self the man for the occasion. Hastily drawing his 
men up in battle array, he addressed them in a few 
words of such burning eloquence that his own brave 
spirit flashed a new life into the exhausted soldiers, 
and the engagement began. 

" Oh, what a sight was this tremendous battle ! " 
exclaims brave old Diaz; "how we closed foot to 
foot, and with what fury the dogs fought us ! Such 
wounding as there was amongst us with their lances 
and clubs and two-handed swords; while our cavalry, 
favoured by the plain ground, rode through them at 
will, galloping at half speed, and bearing doAvn their 
opponents with crouched lances, still fighting manfully, 
though they and their horses were all wounded; and 
we of the infantry, negligent of our former hurts, and 
of those which we now received, closed with the enemy, 
redoubling our efibrts to bear them down with our 
swords. Cortes, De Olid, Alvarado, mounted on a 
horse of one of the soldiers of Narvaez, and Sandoval, 
though all wounded, continued to ride through them. 
Cortes now called out to us to strike at the chiefs; for 



THE BATTLE OF OTUMBA. 235 

they were distinguisLed by great plumes of feathers, 
golden ornaments, richly wrought arms, and devices. 

"Then to hear the valiant Sandoval how he en- 
couraged us, crying out, 'Now, gentlemen, is the day 
of victory; put your trust in God; we shall survive, 
for He preserves us for some good purpose.' All the 
soldiers felt determined to conquer; and thus, animated 
as we were by our Lord Jesus Christ, and our lady the 
Virgin Mary, as also by St. Jago, who undoubtedly 
assisted us, as certified by a chief of Guatemozin who 
was present in the battle, we continued, notwith- 
standing many had received wounds and some of our 
companions were killed, to maintain our ground. 

" It was the will of God that Cortes, accompanied 
by the captains De Olid, Sandoval, Alvarado, and others, 
should reach that part of the army of the enemy which 
was the post of their general-in-chief, who was dis- 
tinguished by a standard, arms covered with gold, and 
a great 'panache, ornamented in the same manner. 
As soon as Cortes perceived the chief who bore the 
standard, and who was surrounded by mauy others 
bearing also great panaches of gold, he cried out to 
Alvarado, Sandoval, De Olid, Avila, and the rest, — 
' Now, gentlemen, let us charge them.' Then, recom- 
mending themselves to God, they rode into the thickest 
of them, and Cortes with his horse struck the Mexican 
chief, and threw down the standard, the cavaliers who 
supported him at the same moment effectually breaking 
this numerous body. The chief who bore the standard, 
not having fallen in the charge made upon him by 
Cortes, Juan de Salamanca, mounted on his good pyed 
mare, pursued him, seized the rich panache which he 



236 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

bore, and presented it to CorteS; saying, that as he 
had given the Mexican general the first blow, and 
struck down his standard, the trophy of the conquest 
was due to him. 

"It was God's will that on the death of their 
general, and of many other chiefs who surrounded 
him, being known, the enemy should relax in their 
efibrts and begin to retreat. As soon as this was 
perceived by us we forgot our hunger, thirst, fatigue, 
and wounds, and thought of nothing but victory and 
pursuit. Our cavalry followed them up close; and 
our allies, now become lions, mowed down all before 
them with the arms which the enemy threw away in 
their flight. 

" As soon as our cavalry returned from the pursuit 
we all gave thanks to God; for never had there ap- 
peared so great a force together in that country, being 
the whole of the warriors of Mexico, Tezcuco, and 
Saltocan, all determined not to leave a trace of us 
upon the earth. The whole nobility of these nations 
were assembled, magnificently armed, and adorned 
with gold, panaches, and devices." 

After the battle they continued the march to Tlas- 
cala, Cortes having many misgivings as to the recep- 
tion he should meet with, now he was overwhelmed 
with misfortunes. All these doubts, however, were 
removed when, upon reaching that capital, Maxixca, 
Xicotencatl, and the chief lords, came to meet him, the 
first saying, " Malinche, Malinche ! how it grieves 
us to hear of your misfortunes, and of those of all your 
brothers, and of the multitudes of our own men who 
have perished with yours. Have we not told you 



FEIENDLY RECEPTION IN TLASCALA. 237 

many times that you should not trust in those Mexican 
people, for there was no security from one day to 
another that they would not make war upon you, and 
you would not believe us 1 But now the thing is 
done, and nothing more remains at present but to 
refresh you and cure you. Wherefore, we will go 
immediately to our city, where you shall be entertained 
as it may please you." 

The general and his staff were lodged in Maxixca's 
palace ; the rest of the army in a neighbouring district, 
where for several weeks they remained, attended by 
their hospitable friends. Por the first time since his 
landing the hardy constitution of Cortes gave way to 
physical suffering. He had lost the use of two of 
the fingers of his left hand, had received two severe 
injuries on the head, one of which was so great that a 
part of the bone was obliged to be removed. A fever 
ensued j and, for several days, the hero who had braved 
danger and death in their most terrible forms, li^y 
stretched as helpless as an infant. 

While thus tossing on his sick bed, Cortes was re- 
solving upon new plans by which he might redeem 
his fortvines. As he became convalescent he issued 
fresh regulations to the troops, and sent to Vera Cruz 
for reinforcements. But this becoming known to the 
Narvaez party, they prepared a remonstrance against 
being again led to Mexico, where they had already 
suffered so much. But Cortes in his extremity was no 
less determined than Cortes in prosperity; and know- 
ing that he could depend upon the veterans who had 
been with him through the whole campaign, he ap- 
pealed to their sense of honour, pride, avarice, and 



238 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

love of glory; using, indeed, all those powers of per- 
suasion and command wliicli had so long given him 
the mastery over those wild spirits, and concluded by 
saying, — " ISTow, leave me if you will ; for I shall feel 
stronger accompanied by a few brave men. than if sur- 
rounded by a host of faint-hearted." His eloquence 
was successful; at least the discontented now promised 
to postpone their departure for a time. 

About the same time a great' danger was hovering 
over the Spaniards. The Mexicans had sent an em- 
bassy to the Tlascalan senate, praying that their 
ancient enemies would now forget past differences, 
and rally around the standard of Anahuac in order to 
destroy their common enemy, the accursed Spaniards. 
In the council there was a strong party, headed by the 
chief Xicotencatl, who desired to accept the Mexican 
alliance, and at once seize and sacrifice the strangers. 
They were, however, outvoted by the aged father of 
Xicotencatl, Maxixca, and all the elder chiefs, who, 
like Montezuma, believed that the Spaniards were 
the beings whose coming had been so long predicted 
by the oracles. It was indeed fortunate for the 
Spaniards that the counsel of their friend Maxixca 
prevailed, for at that time they were as helpless as 
infants in the hands of the Tlascalans. 

The result of this debate coming to the ears of 
Cortes, his hopes revived, and he began to look about 
him for some active employment, as the best means 
of keeping down those discontents he had already 
had so much difficulty in suppressing. The oppor- 
tunity was soon forthcoming. 

AVhen the general descended the plateau to meet 



WAR WITH THE TEPEACANS. 239 

Narvaez, he had left a quantity of gold in the hands 
of the Tlascalans. Upon his return to Mexico, after 
the defeat of Narvaez, he still left the treasure, but 
under the care of a number of invalided soldiers, who 
were to rejoin him in the capital after the suppression 
of the tumult caused by Alvarado's measures. Cortes 
now heard from his friend Maxixca, that some time 
before a party of five horsemen and forty foot, who, 
passing through Tlascala, en route from Yera Cruz, had 
undertaken to escort the invalids and the treasure, had 
been encountered and put to death by the Tepeacans, 
a people who inhabited a neighbouring province. 

This w^as sufficient for a casus belli. So Cortes, put- 
ting himself at the head of his small corps of Spaniards 
and a large body of Tlascalans, under the command of 
Xicotencatl (for the latter now volunteered to serve 
under the Spanish chief by whom he had been so often 
defeated), marched upon Tepeaca. After a bloody 
battle the Tepeacans were defeated; and great num- 
bers, by way of punishment for what the Spanish 
general was pleased to call rebellion, were branded 
on the arm as slaves, and their capital made the 
site of a Spanish town, which Cortes named Segura 
de la Frontera — " Security of the Frontier," From 
Segura, which he made his head-quarters, he led 
and sent forth into the different provinces so many 
expeditions, and with such success, that between 
July and December he had, either by conquest, terror, 
or negotiating, fairly undermined the power of the 
Mexican emperor. Nay, so renowned had become his 
name, that belligerent states sought his intervention, and 
allied themselves with him against the Aztec emperor. 



240 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

The tide of fortune was once more running in 
favour of Cortes. His native alliances were day by 
day swelling the numbers of his Indian auxiliaries, 
and his countrymen, by the late brilliant successes, 
had, for the greater part, become reconciled to a con- 
tinuation of the war. It was true that many of 
Narvaez's soldiers still insisted and obtained permission 
to return to Cuba; but then these few were replaced 
by an unexpected reinforcement of 150 well armed, 
ammunitioned, and provisioned Spaniards. 

The latter had arrived at Vera Cruz in three dif- 
ferent parties. The first came with stores from the 
Governor of Cuba, and with orders from Velasquez to 
take back Cortes in chains, as he believed Narvaez to 
be in supreme power. The Governor of Vera Cruz 
permitted the captain and crew to land, and then 
seized them. The other two parties had been made 
prisoners in a similar manner, but perhaps not unwil- 
lingly; for there was a magic in the name of Cortes 
that drew all new-comers to his banner. To add to 
the general's good fortune, about the same time a 
merchant adventurer landed with a ship laden with 
every description of military stores, all of which, to- 
gether with the crew, were bargained for by Cortes' 
lieutenant. 

The Spanish general, who was then at Segura, no 
sooner heard this good nevv^s than he at once set out 
for Tlascala, at which place he was received with every 
demonstration of joy — with triumphal arches, dances, 
songs, and waving of banners. But he was grieved to 
hear that his good friend, Maxixca, had died of small- 
pox. That disease, by the way, had recently been 



A GRAND SCHEME. 241 

introduced into the country by a negro slave belong- 
ing to the Spanish camp. Cortes attired himself in 
mourning, and adopted Maxixca's son, who, upon 
being baptized, was knighted by the general 

Cortes now feeling himself sufficiently powerful, de- 
termined at once to besiege Mexico. The sad experi- 
ence, however, of the " melancholy night," had taught 
him the impossibility of success without shij)ping. But 
how was that to be obtained, and, if obtained, trans- 
ported through woods, forests, and across mountains, 
to the valley of Mexico. To the daring genius of this 
great man everything seemed possible. In this case 
he ordered Martin Lopez, the builder of the brigan- 
tines in Montezuma's time, and who had fortunately 
escaped the tragedy of the causeway, to build thirteen 
on the same model; but so to construct them that they 
might be taken to pieces again and carried on the 
shoulders of natives to the Lake of Tezcuco, where, 
when put together, he intended them to be launched. 
It was a grand though an improbable scheme, but, as 
we shall hereafter find, successfully carried out. The 
timber was to be hewn down from the forests by the 
natives. The sails, rigging, and iron- work were to be 
fetched from Vera Cruz, where they had remained 
since the memorable time when he had ordered the 
dismantling and destruction of the shipping which had 
brought the Spaniards from Cuba. Before setting out 
upon the march, the general held a review of his forces. 
He had now about 600 Spaniards, 40 of whom were 
cavalry, together with 80 arquebusiers and cross-bow 
men. The rest were armed with sword and target, 
and with copper-headed pikes. The native troops 



242 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

consisted of the flower of Tlascala to the number of 
150,000. These were arranged in four divisions, each 
being commanded by a great chief 

When the Spaniards were drawn up in line of 
march, Cortes rode through the ranks exhorting them 
to be true to themselves ; to remember that they were 
marching against rebels, barbarians, the enemies of their 
religion. They were to fight the battle of the Cross 
and of the crown; to wipe out the stain from their 
arms ; and to avenge the loss of those dear companions 
who had been slain on the field, or on the accursed 
altar of sacrifice. " Never," concluded the politic chief, 
"was there a war which offered higher incentives to 
Christian cavaliers — a war which opened up riches and 
renown in this life, and imperishable glory in that to 
come." As if with one voice, the soldiers replied, — 
" We are ready to die in defence of the faith, and will 
either conquer or leave our bones with those of our 
countrymen in the waters of Tezcuco." 

The Tlascalans he addressed through Dona Marina, 
telling them he was going to fight their battles against 
their ancient enemies, and begged them to support 
him in a manner worthy of their renowned republic. 
The Indians replied by shouts or yells of defiance 
against the Mexicans. 

As the general could not attack Mexico without the 
brigan tines, and he did not desire to encumber himself 
with useless mouths, he chose but 10,000 of the Tlas- 
calans to accompany him to Tezcuco, leaving orders 
for the remainder to follow when the vessels were 
finished. With this force attached to his own army, 
he set out on the 28th of December, 1520. It was a 



THE MARCH UPON TEZCUCO. 243 

toilsome inarch, the cold being so intense that the 
troops suffered severely. Upon the 31st, however, 
they began the descent of the sierra leading to the 
capital. Then the temperature became changed. But 
on coming to a spot from whence their eyes could rest 
upon the beautiful valley of Mexico, they could not 
withhold their admiration of the fair scene. The 
remembrance, however, of their disasters speedily 
aroused bitter feelings. They swore to each other 
that they would never quit the country, but conquer 
or die. " And our minds once resolved," said Cortes, 
in one of his letters, " we moved forward with as light 
a step as if we had been going on an errand of certain 
pleasure." 

That evening they halted at Coatepeque, a city subject 
to Tezcuco. The place was deserted; and as Cortes 
knew it was populous enough to furnish 150,000 war- 
riors, he had a sleepless night, for every moment he 
expected a sudden attack. But although his fears 
proved groundless, the next morning he resumed his 
march in considerable perplexity as to what could be 
the intentions of the Tezcucans, upon whose capital 
he was now marching. But scarcely had he set forth 
when seven Tezcucan chiefs were seen approaching. 
A golden banner, the emblem of peace, was borne 
before them. As they came into the presence of 
Cortes the banner was lowered, and the chiefs, de- 
claring they brought a message from the King of 
Tezcuco, implored the general to spare his territory, 
and take up his residence in the capital; moreover, 
promising to become a vassal to the King of Spain. 
The general answered coldly, sternly demanding an 



244: PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

account of the massacre of some forty-five Spaniards, 
which had been perpetrated a short time before by their 
king, Coanaco, and further, requiring immediate resti- 
tution of a large quantity of gold that had been taken 
from them. With great humility the nobles replied 
by throwing the whole blame upon the new emperor, 
Guatemozin, who had commanded the deed and still 
had possession of the treasure. They also said their 
king prayed that Cortes would not enter the city that 
day, but pass the night in the suburbs, so that he might 
have time to prepare suitable accommodation for him. 
The general dismissed the envoys with a promise 
that the property of the Tezcucans should be respected, 
but, little heeding their last request, proceeded on his 
march, and that night halted at a village in the out- 
skirts of the capital. The next morning the army 
entered the city, but the place seemed deserted, neither 
did any of the chiefs come to welcome him. Alarmed 
at this, he ordered some soldiers to ascend the great 
temple and survey the city. Captain Diaz, who was 
one of the party, says, — " From the top of this temple 
we observed that all the people were in movement, 
carrying off their children and effects to the woods, the 
reedy border of the lake, and to a number of canoes 
collected for the purpose." Cortes now saw the pur- 
port of the king's desire that he should remain in the 
suburbs ; it was, that he and his people might evacuate 
the city. Coanaco had indeed escaped beyond his 
power. The general, however, determined to turn his 
flight to his own account; so he called a meeting of the 
few inhabitants left, and nominally by their advice 
and election, raised a younger brother of the fugitive 



IXTLILXOCHITL. 24o 

king to the throne. The name of this prince was 
Ixtlilxochitl, and so great was his gratitude to Cortes 
for his advancement, that he remained throughout the 
whole war the firm friend of the Spaniards. " History," 
says Prescott justly, "should certainly not defraud this 
prince of his meed of glory — the melomcholy glory of 
having contributed, more than any other chieftain of 
Anahuac, to rivet the chains of the white man round 
the necks of his countryman." When it became known 
to the refugees from Tezcuco that a prince of their old 
royal family had been seated upon the throne, the 
greater part of them returned to the capital. As we 
shall see, however, it v/as but to become virtually the 
slaves of the Spanish general. The city of Tezcuco 
stood about half a league from the great salt lake : 
indeed, it was for that reason Cortes had chosen it for 
his head-quarters. The size and number of its build- 
ings rendered it easily convertible into a fortress ; and 
when the brigantines should be brought, he could easily 
have them put together there and launched. But it 
was necessary that this should be done within the 
city : he determined, therefore, to cut a canal through 
the whole distance between the palace in which he 
lodged and the basin of the lake. It was the idea of 
a giant; but then Indian lives were cheap. He had 
but to command, and some 8,000 Tezcucans, under the 
direction of the newly-created king, were set to work 
preparing a water-way that should float the brigantines 
from the capital to the lake. 

When it had become known throughout Anahuac 
that the Spaniards had taken possession of the second 
city in the empire, many of the great chieftains sent in 



2i6 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

tlieir submission to Cortes, declaring themselves the 
faithful vassals of Spain. The Spanish general ac- 
cepted their adhesion, and promised to protect them 
from the vengeance of the Aztec emperor, conditionally 
that they should deliver over to him every Mexican 
who entered their territories. Some Aztec chiefs thus 
fell into his hands. These he released and sent to the 
young emperor, with what I must think rather an 
impudent message. It was to the effect, that if 
Guatemozin would at once surrender his capital into 
the hands of the Spaniards he would pardon the past, 
and so save the city the horrors of a siege. These 
overtures being treated with contempt, Cortes resolved 
to commence operations by an attack upon Iztapalapan. 
In this resolve he was actuated as much by revenge 
as policy ; for that beautiful city had been the private 
property of Cuitlahua, the brother of Montezuma, the 
same prince whom Cortes had released from prison, 
and had sent to open the markets, but who, it will 
be remembered, headed the Mexicans in their great 
attack upon the Spaniard's quarters. It was true 
that Cuitlahua, who had been chosen emperor, had 
since died of the small-pox, and had been succeeded 
in the throne by his nephew, Guatemozin; but then 
the people of Iztapalapan entertained as hearty a 
hatred of the Spaniards as their late prince, and were 
then the most loyal vassals of the Aztec sovereign. 

Leaving Sandoval in command of Tezcuco, Cortes, 
at the head of 218 Spaniards and 4,000 Tlascalans, 
set out on his march along the eastern border of the 
great salt lake. When they were within three-quarters 
of a league of the city, they saw a great number of 



THE MEXICAIfS DESTROY THE DIKES. 247 

Indians in canoes working at the mole which dammed 
in the water from the city. Regardless, however, of 
all but vengeance, the general passed on, and after a 
desperate battle, in which more than 6,000 men, 
women, and children were slaughtered, obtained pos- 
session of the town. The scene that now ensued 
was fearful. The Tlascalans fell upon the people 
like famished wolves. The Spaniards plundered and 
burned in every direction till stayed by the darkness 
of night. The sentinels were then posted. But sud- 
denly the hoarse rippling of waters fell upon their 
ears. "The dikes, the dikes are broken!" screamed 
the Tlascalans. The labour of those men in the 
canoes was now accounted for. Like the Hollanders 
at a later period, the Mexicans had determined, in case 
of defeat, to let the water of the salt lake in upon 
the invaders. Cortes ordered a retreat. The moon 
was up, otherwise not one man would have escaped 
alive. As it was, many Tlascalans were drowned. 
All the plunder was lost, the powder spoiled, and the 
Spaniards so benumbed by the cold winds and satur- 
ated with the brine, that they could scarce drag their 
limbs along. " But what provoked us more," says 
Captain Diaz, " was the laughter and mockings of the 
Mexicans, who studded the lake with canoes, and 
attacked us with stones and arrows." 

The destruction of Iztapalapan, however, notwith- 
standing the disasters of the night, was of great service 
to Cortes, for, a few days after, several of the neigh- 
bouring cities sent in their allegiance. Among these 
were Otumba and Chalco. The latter was situated on 
the eastern extremity of the Lake Chalco, and at that 



248 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

time "was occupied by Mexican troops. Tliese being 
distasteful to the Cbalcan chiefs, they sent secretly a 
message to Cortes, proposing to put themselves under 
his protection if he would expel the garrison. The 
general at once sent a division under Sandoval, who, 
after a pitched battle, took possession of the place, left 
a garrison, and then returned with two of the chiefs to 
head-quarters. 

After gaining many such advantages, Cortes again 
made overtures of peace to Guatemozin; but the young 
emperor, whose spirit was, as dauntless as that of his 
opponent, replied b^ a command to his officers, that 
every Spaniard taken prisoner should be at once sent 
to the stone of sacrifice. 

ISTews now arrived that the brigan tines were ready. 
Sandoval was therefore despatched to carry them to 
Tezcuco. That gallant officer met them on the road. 
They were thirteen in number; had been tried upon 
one of the Tlascalan lakes ; then taken to pieces, and 
in the latter condition carried upon the shoulders of 
8,000 tamanes, or porters. They were escorted, also, 
by 20,000 warriors, which, with the force of Spaniards^ 
was sufficient to protect them from the enemy. 

As they approached the town, Cortes and his officers, 
in gala attire, came out to meet them. The Tlascalan 
chiefs and their warriors were dressed in their bravest 
war costume. As they marched through the streets of 
the capital to the sound of cornet and atabal, amidst 
the acclamations of the Spaniards, they made the city 
ring with shouts of "Castile and Tlascala;" "Long 
live the emperor" (Charles Y. of Spain). "It was a 
marvellous thing," wrote Cortes in one of his letters 



ARRIVAL OF THE BRIGAKTINES. 249 

to Spain, " that few have seen, or even heard of, this 
transportation of thirteen vessels of war on the shoul- 
ders of mem for nearly twenty leagues across the 
mountains !" 

The general gave a warm welcome to the brave 
Tlascalans, and hearty thanks for their services. But 
these barbarians were as impatient as blood-hounds 
upon the scent. They were near their hated enemies. 
" We come," they cried, " to fight under your banner; 
to avenge our common quarrel : therefore, lead us at 
once against the enemy." " Wait till you are rested, 
and you will have your hands full," was the reply. 
Cortes kept his word. While the ships were being 
put together, he determined to reconnoitre Mexico, 
and, if possible, hold communication with Guatemozin 
himself, For this purpose he put himself at the head 
of 250 infantry, 30 cavalry, and the whole of the Tlas- 
calans, and proceeded round the northern part of the 
salt lake. Each day severe skirmishes took place; 
but, during the expedition, no Spaniard was killed. 
At one time the general was in serious danger, for he 
had permitted himself to be decoyed across the fatal 
causeway. The main object of the expedition, how- 
ever, was defeated by the obstinacy or, rather, implac- 
able hatred of the Mexicans, between whom and the 
Spaniards such scenes as the following frequently oc- 
curred : — You must imagine that, finding a favourable 
opportunity, Cortes has requested that one of the 
chiefs might come forward and hold a parley with him. 
" We are all chiefs; whatever you have to say, say 
openly." Finding the general does not reply, they 
ask, — " Why do you not pay another visit to the capi- 



2-50 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

tal?" adding, tauntingly, — " But perhaps Malinche does 
not expect to find here another Montezuma as obedient 
to his commands as the former." " As for you," they 
would cry to the Tlascalans, "you are women, who 
would never have ventured so near here but for the 
protection of the white men." " You must soon give 
in; you are dying of hunger, and we will not let you 
come out to seek food," would be the answer of some 
Tlascalan. " We are in no want of food ; if we were 
we would eat Tlascalans and Spaniards," they would 
reply, sneeringly; at the same time, perhaps, throwing 
maize cakes to the Spaniards; adding, — " Take and eat 
if you are hungry; we are not so in the least." Then, 
sometimes, regular combats would take place between 
the Tlascalans and Mexicans, wherein one or more 
champions would fight on each side, to vindicate the 
honour of their respective countries; and with such fair- 
ness were these combats d, Voutrance conducted, and with 
such skill did they manage their weapons, that they 
drew forth the admiration of the Spaniards, at that 
period a people most conspicuous among Europeans for 
their chivalrous practices. 

Upon his return to Tezcuco, Cortes again received a 
message from Chalco, soliciting aid against the Mexi- 
cans. Sandoval was again sent to their aid. This 
officer and his detachment having performed prodigies 
of valour, returned to Tezcuco. As soon, however, as 
his back was turned upon the town, it was once more 
invested by another body of the enemy, and the Chal- 
cans sent a message to Cortes, telling him they were 
now in as great danger as before. These messengers 
arrived simultaneously with Sandoval and his army. 



WELCOME INTELLIGENCE. 251 

when the general, suspecting some negligence on the 
part of his officer, severely reprimanded him, and 
ordered him back to Chalco. In silence Sandoval 
obeyed, but, upon his return, wounded by the treat- 
ment he had received, retired to his own quarters 
without presenting himself before his chief. 

The coolness, however, between these brave men did 
not long continue; for Cortes, having discovered his 
error, made the most ample apologies to Sandoval. 
Soon after he received news that three vessels had 
arrived at Villa Kica with 200 men, 80 horses, and 
a large supply of arms and ammunition. This was 
welcome intelligence for the general, but as good 
came to the soldiers ; for a Dominican friar had arrived 
in the same ship, bringing a quantity of pontifical 
bulls, ofiering indulgences to those engaged in war 
against the infidel. This was a profitable transaction 
for the good father; for such a prosperous traffic did 
he drive in these spiritual wars, that at the end of a 
few months he returned to Spain well freighted with 
gold. 



252 



CHAPTEE XIL 



THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 



Again did tlie Chalcans crave tlie assistance of the 
Spaniards, sending also a large picture upon white cloth, 
on which were depicted several strong places in their 
neighbourhood, garrisoned by the Aztecs, and from 
which they expected annoyance. 

This time Cortes led the troops himself. The expe- 
dition lasted nearly three weeks. During that period 
many desperate encounters took place. In one of 
these the general had a narrow escape. The story is 
as follows: — Cortes, who, with a few followers, was 
standing at the entrance of a city that had just been 
taken, was suddenly assailed by a large body of Indians. 
With his usual fearlessness he threw himself into their 
midst, hoping to check their advance j but his own fol- 
lowers were too few to support him, and he was over- 
whelmed. His horse lost his footing and fell; and 
Cortes, who received a severe blow on the head before 
he could rise, was seized and dragged off in triumph. 
At this critical moment a Tlascalan sprang, like one of 
the wild animals of his own forests, into the midst of 
the Mexicans, and endeavoured to tear his general 
away from their grasp. Two of his servants also 
speedily came to the rescue, and Cortes, with their 



CORTES HAS A NARROW ESCAPE. 253 

aid and tliat of the brave Tlascalan, succeeded in 
shaking off his enemies. To vault into the saddle and 
brandish his lance was the work of a moment. But a 
party of cavalry Coming up immediately, the enemy were 
driven off. This was Cortes' narrowest escape. Indeed, 
had not the Aztecs so earnestly desired to secure him 
alive for sacrifice, he must have been slain. About the 
same time four Spaniards, who had been taken by the 
Mexicans, were sacrificed by the order of Guatemozin. 
Their arms and legs were cut off, and sent round to 
the different cities, with a message that such should be 
the fate of the enemies of Mexico, After the battle 
in which he had so narrowly escaped the sacrificial 
stone, Cortes marched to Tacuba, the capital of the 
Tepanecs. The general and his officers ascended the 
chief temple^ From its summit they could see the 
whole of the beautiful valley of Mexico. The grand 
city, with its broad lake covered with boats and 
barges, some laden with merchandise, others crowded 
with warriors, gave great delight to the soldiers, who, 
says Diaz, "all agreed in giving glory to God for 
making them the instruments of rendering such ser- 
vices, for that nothing but the hand of Providence could 
have led their countrymen safe through the heart of 
that powerful empire." The general had other thoughts. 
He was grieving for the loss of two favourite servants 
who had recently been taken and sacrificed by the 
Aztecs. He was thinking upon the loss of so many 
brave companions — of the fatal noche triste : all brought 
vividly before him as he gazed upon that fair but fatal 
city, and he sighed deeply. 

" Take comfort, sir," said one of his captains ; " you 



2-51 THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

must not lay these things to heart; it is after all but 
the fortune of war." 

"True," he replied; "still it fills me with pain when 
I think of the toil and dangers my brave followers 
have yet to encounter before we can call yon city 
ours. But," he added, energetically, "the time has 
now come when we must put our hands to the work. 
For their sufferings these Aztecs will have themselves 
alone to blame. You are my witness how often I have 
endeavoured to persuade yonder capital peacefully to 
submit." This was strange language for one whom 
my readers cannot but regard as the chief of an army 
of pirates and freebooters. It shows us, however, that 
Cortes had no such notion of himself, but rather that 
he was engaged in a holy crusade, and the instrument 
appointed by God to plant the Cross upon the blood- 
stained towers of that heathen capital. This scene 
of the conqueror brooding over the coming doom of 
Mexico was so impressed upon the minds of the soldiers 
that one among them made it the burden of a romance, 
which was very popular in its day. As rendered into 
English by Prescott, the first verse runs thus : — 

" In Tacuba stood Cortes, 

With many cares opprest ; 
Thoughts of the past came o'er him, 

And he bowed his haughty crest. 
One hand upon his cheek he laid, 

The other on his breast, 
While his valiant squadrons round him," &c. 

Upon the return of the army to Tezcuco they found 
the brigantines ready for launching, and the canal pre- 
pared to receive them. Delighted at this despatch, 
Cortes' only thought now was the proper arrangement 
of his forces, and the manning of his ships, ready 



SCHEME TO ASSASSINATE CORTES. 255 

for an assault upon the doomed city. These prepara- 
tions were, however, well-nigh proving useless, for 
one night a soldier came to the general's quarters 
and earnestly sought a private audience. This being 
instantly granted, the man threw himself at his chief's 
feet,- declaring that he was one of a party who had 
entered into a conspiracy to assassinate him. The 
diabolical scheme, he said, had been formed by one 
Villafana, a great friend of the Governor of Cuba, in 
conjunction with several others of Narvaez's troops. 
The plan was as follows: — They had heard that a 
vessel had just arrived at Villa E,ica from Spain, so 
that communications might be expected hourly. They 
intended to enter the apartment of Cortes when he 
was seated at table eating with his captains, and pre- 
sent him with a letter, which they would pretend 
had come from his father, Don Martin; and while 
he was engaged in breaking it open they would fall 
on him and his officers and despatch them with their 
poignards. Having perpetrated the crime, they further 
intended to propose the chief command to Francisco 
Verdugo, a brother-in-law of Velasquez, As for the 
subordinate officers, they had already appointed them 
in place of Sandoval, Olid, Alvarado, and others. 

Thunderstruck at this disclosure, Cortes did not lose 
his presence of mind. But, detaining the penitent 
conspirator, he sent for Alvarado, Sandoval, and other 
officers marked out by the assassins for destruction, 
and having repeated the story, at once went with them, 
accompanied by four Alguacils, to the quarters of 
Villafana, whom they found seated in close conference 
with three or four friends. Conf^mnded at the sudden 
S 



256 THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

appearance of the general, Villafana had barely time 
to snatch a paper containing the sig-natures of the con- 
federates from his bosom, and attempt to swallow it. 
Cortes was too quick for him ; he seized the paper, and 
having glanced down the names, tore the scroll in 
pieces. Yillafana was at once tried, condemned, and 
hanged from the windows of his own quarters. 

We can imagine the horror of those who had affixed 
their signatures to that fatal list, and the deadly anxiety 
with which each man must have awaited a similar fate. 
But Cortes was content with punishing the ringleader; 
nay, he could not afford to lose so many men. He there- 
fore gave out that Yillafana, upon his arrest, had 
swallowed the paper; and, being famous for extracting 
advantage from evil, this time he established a body 
guard ; for, after such an attempt upon his life, he could 
do it without giving offence, and it proved of good 
service to him during the seige. 

The canal, which had taken 8,000 men two months 
to complete, being ready on the 28th of April, the brig- 
an tines were floated into the lake with great solemnity. 
The troops were drawn up under arms, mass was per- 
formed, every man, together with the general, confessed 
and received the sacrament. Prayers were offered up 
by Father Olmedo, invoking a blessing upon the little 
navy; and as the vessels, one after the other, dropped 
down the canal, and entered the great lake amidst the 
sound of music and the bellowing of cannon, every man 
felt that the Aztec capital was a doomed city. "The 
scene touched the stern hearts of the conquerors," says 
Prescott, " with a glow of rapture, and, as they felt that 
Heaven had blessed their undertaking, they broke forth 



THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 257 

hj general accord into tlie noble anthem of the Te 
Deum." But there was not one of that vast multitude 
for whom the sight had deeper interest than their com- 
mander; for he looked on it as the work, in a manner, 
of his own hands ; and his bosom swelled with exulta- 
tion as he felt he was now possessed of a power strong 
enough to command the lake, and to shake the haughty 
towers of Tenochtitlan. 



258 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE SIEGE AND DOWNFALL OF MEXICO. 




MEXtCO 

ANDTI-IE 

ADJACENT CITIE 

SpanisJi I «i 



ef 31 



£]ljeac^ues 



If you glance at the map* you will see that four of 
the causeways by which the island city of Mexico com- 
municated with the mainland branched off from one 
great trunk or main highway, which, beginning at 

* The above map, illustrative of the siege of Mexico, is reduced from 
the History of the Spanish, Conquests in America, by Arthur Helps. 



MEXICO INVESTED. 259 

Tepejacae, a town upon the northern border of the 
great lake, passed through the middle of the city, 
terminating between the two towns of Iztapalapan 
and Cuyoacan. Trom the latter city a wide causeway, 
passing in an oblique direction, joined the trunk about 
midway between the mainland and the city. Upon 
the northern side another branch led from the main 
trunk to Tacuba, on the eastern border of the lake. 
Upon the west there was no communication between 
the capital and the city of Tezcuco — nothing but a 
great expanse of water j hence the use of the brigan- 
tines. 

'Now, as Cortes determined to invest Mexico, so 
that the inhabitants might be literally starved into a 
speedy surrender, he divided his forces into three 
camps, — if we include the brigantines and their crews, 
four. The first didsion, under Alvarado, consisting 
of 30 horsemen, 18 musketeers, 150 swordsmen, and 
20,000 Tlascalans under the command of Xicotencatl, 
lie ordered to take possession of Tacuba, thus com- 
manding the eastern causeway. A similar force was 
sent, under De Olid, to take up its position at 
Cuyoacan. This commanded the branch causeway 
leading out of the trunk road. The chevalier Sandoval, 
with a dozen Spaniards and 30,000 Indians, was sent 
to Iztapalapan, with orders to destroy that town and 
fight his way across the causeway to Cuyoacan, where 
he was to unite with De Olid. The naval division, or 
brigantines, manned by 300 men, were to be under the 
immediate direction of the general j for he counted that 
to be the key of the whole war. 

" Now," said Cortes, in his address to the Spaniards, 



260 THE SIEGE AND DOWNFALL OF MEXICO. 

"remember you are Castilians. Including our allies, 
we have an army such as the Romans never collected; 
with our vessels we are masters of the water; with our 
horses we can hold the plains; while notliing can be 
better than our position." In conclusion, he said, " I 
have now brought you to the goal for which you have 
so long panted. In a few days I will place you before 
the gates of the capital from which you were driven 
with such ignominy. We are fighting the battles of 
the faith, for our honour, riches, revenge. But I 
have brought you face to face with your foe; it is for 
you to do the rest." 

When the deafening cheers with which this ha- 
rangue was received had subsided, some of the chief 
officers, on the part of their companions in arms, 
declared that it had been agreed that they would 
not quit the siege until they had conquered or died. 

In order that the Spaniards should not be embar- 
rassed in the march, the Tlascalans were ordered to 
set out one day in advance. On their way, however, 
Xicotencatl, their chief, taking offence at some insult 
offered by a Spaniard to a relative, threw up his com- 
mand and quitted the camp. This defection coming 
to the ears of Cortes, he sent messengers in search of 
the fugitive, who were desired to beg of him to resume 
his command, and remember that his father, who had 
been baptized, was on such friendly terms with the 
Spaniards, that, had he not been so old and blind, he 
would have led his countrymen against the Mexicans. 
In rei')ly, Xicotencatl sent a defiant message to the 
effect, that had his counsels prevailed the foreigners 
would have been driven from the land. Enraged at 



EXECUTION OF XICOTENCATL. 261 

this reply, and fearing the consequences of so important a 
personage being in arms against him, Cortes immediately 
ordered a party of horsemen and five Indian chiefs to go 
in pursuit of the contumacious prince, and hang him 
wherever they found him. The party were successful, 
and the brave, patriotic chieftain, the most potent of 
the princes of Tlascala, was hanged like a dog. This 
was one of the most daring acts in the career of 
Cortes; more especially so as this prince was so rev- 
erenced by his people that his very garments were 
torn into shreds and preserved by his countrymen as 
holy relics. Commenting upon this incident, Arthur 
Helps well says, — " The three things in a man's 
character which are best rewarded in this world are 
boldness, hardness, and circumspection. Cortes pos- 
sessed the first and last qualifications in the highest 
degree, and, if he was not by nature a hard man, 
had the power of summoning up hardness whenever 
it was requisite to do so." 

On the 10th of May, 1521, Alvarado and Olid quitted 
Tezcuco in company, and proceeded by a northern cir- 
cuit of the lake to their separate positions. On their 
way they cut ofi" the great acqueduct of Chapultepec, by 
which Mexico was chiefly supplied with water from the 
mainland. This, however, they did not effect without a 
severe battle with a large body of Mexicans, who had 
been posted there by Guatemozin to protect it. Tacuba 
and Cuyoacan, with their respective causeways, being 
occupied by Alvarado and Olid, Sandoval marched 
by a southern circuit to occupy Iztapalapan. At 
this town a battle took place, but the Spaniards 
were victorious ; and, as they were entering the city, 



2o2 THE SIEGE AND DOWNFALL OF MEXICO. 

tlie general himself came up witli the brigantines, for 
he feared Sandoval would require the protection of 
his ships' guns. But this not being the case, and 
Cortes observing that a great hill which arose out of 
the water (now called Cerro de Marques) was covered 
with the enemy and strongly fortified, he attacked 
them, and put all but the women and children to the 
sword. The Mexicans, and the inhabitants of other 
towns on the border of the lake, learning the position 
of the brigantines, sent out an armed flotilla of 500 
canoes J but as might so many elephants among a flock 
of sheep, did the Spanish vessels bear down the light 
craft of the Aztecs ; and those which escaped were pur- 
sued by the brigantines until they took refuge in the 
water streets of the capital. The great loss of the Mexi- 
cans may be guessed from the words of the chronicler, 
who writes, " That any remained to escape was only 
owing to the multitudes there were to destroy." Olid, 
who was with his division at Cuyoacan, observing the 
victory of his countrymen, endeavoured to improve it 
by a vigorous charge along the causeway. Cortes, in 
pursuing the canoes, had reached a point lower down. 
Erom this spot to the very gates of Mexico the cause- 
way was covered with warriors. E.unning his vessel 
alongside, the general brought one of his heavy guns 
to bear upon the dense masses, who now fell by hun- 
dreds. Indeed, but for a deficiency of powder, the whole 
must have been swept from the face of the earth. As 
it was, instead of following up his original intention of 
joining Olid at Cuyoacan, Cortes sent for a reinforce- 
ment from the latter officer, and parting from Sandoval, 
encamped upon the causeway. That night the camp 



ANOTHER CAUSEWAY DISCOVERED. 263 

was in great danger from the enemy. The next morn- 
ing the Mexicans in clouds attacked the Spaniards by 
land and water. But, alas! what chance had these 
brave people against the well-directed artillery and 
cavalry of their foe 1 None : they were shot or trodden 
down by thousands. The following day, Sandoval, 
fighting his way from Iztapalapan to Cuyoacan, 
reached the causeway and joined in another battle; 
but again were the Aztecs defeated. Eor six days 
these encounters continued j but the most fatal event 
during that period was the discovery by Cortes of a 
wide canal which ran round the city. As the brigan- 
tines were enabled to sail down this water-way, the 
Spaniards, by firing into the densest portion of the 
city, committed fearful havoc. Upon the seventh or 
eighth day Alvarado sent word to Cortes that he had 
discovered another causeway, which led to Tepejacae, 
by means of which the inhabitants could pass to and 
fro at will. This position was immediately occupied 
by Sandoval, and thus, their last means of exit or 
entrance being blockaded, Mexico was completely 
invested. 

What was the position and sufierings of the private 
soldiers we may learn from the graphic account of 
Captain Diaz, who was fighting with the division under 
Alvarado at Tacuba. You will remember that the 
latter officer commanded the mainland entrance to 
one of the three great causeways. " As it was im- 
possible for our troops to advance upon the causeway 
without their flanks being secured on the water, the 
flotilla was formed into three divisions, and one of 
them attached to each of the three corps of our army 3 



264 THE SIEGE AND DOWNFALL OF MEXICO. 

that is to say, four ships to Alvarado, six to De Olid, 
and two to Sandoval, making in all twelve; for the thir- 
teenth, named Busca Ruido, or, 'Follow the noise,' 
being found to be too small, was ordered to be laid 
up, and her crew divided among the rest, as we had 
twenty very badly wounded already on board the 
ships. Alvarado now ordered us out upon the cause- 
way, and placing two of the ships on each side, he 
hereby protected our flanks. We drove the enemy 
from several bridges and barricades ; but after fighting 
during the whole day, we were obliged to return to our 
quarters, almost every man of us wounded by the 
showers of arrows and stones, which exceeded imagina- 
tion; for we were attacked constantly by fresh troops, 
bearing different devices, by land; while from the 
terraces of the houses the enemy commanded our 
ships. As we could not leave a party to secure what 
we got in the day, at night the enemy re-possessed 
themselves of the bridges, and put better defences on 
them. They deepened the water in some places, and 
in the shallow parts they dug pits, and placed canoes 
in ambuscade, which they secured from the attacks of 
our vessels by pallisades under the water. This was 
the manner in which they opposed us every day. The 
cavalry, as I before observed, could do nothing; the 
enemy had built parapets across the causeways, which 
they defended with long lances; and even had an 
attack been practicable, the soldiers would not risk 
their horses, which at this time cost 800 crowns, and 
some more than 1,000; nor, indeed, were they to be had 
at any price. When we arrived at night we were em- 
ployed in curing our wounds; and a soldier named Juan 



A COMBINED ATTACK. 265 

Catalan also healed them by charms and prayers, which, 
with the mercy of our Lord Jesus, recovered us very fast. 
But wounded or not, we were obliged to go against the 
enemy every day, as otherwise our companies would 
not have, been twenty men strong. When our allies 
saw that the before-mentioned soldier cured us by 
charms and prayers, all their wounded came to him, 
so that he had more business on his hands than he 
knew what to do with. Every day our ensign was 
disabled, not having it in his power to carry the 
colours and defend himself. Corn we had a sufficiency 
of, but we wanted refreshments for the wounded. 
What preserved us was the plant called 'quiltes,' 
cherries, while in season, and 'tunas,' or Indian figs. 
The situation of our other parties round the lake was 
similar to what I have here described." 

Cortes now determined upon making a combined 
attack upon the city. It was arranged as follows : — 
The swordsmen, musketeers, and cross-bow men were 
to form the advanced guard, and to be supported on 
either side of the causeway by brigantines; a small 
body of horse was to keep guard in the rear, and 
another was to accompany the attacking party. The 
number of Indian allies amounted to 80,000. While 
Alvarado led the attack from Tacuba and Sandoval 
from another point, the general headed that upon the 
great causeway, which led into the very heart of the 
city. It was a fierce and bloody day. Upon advanc- 
ing, Cortes found that the enemy had made a breach at 
the beginning of the causeway a lance length in width, 
and upon the other side had thrown up a parapet, 
behind which they fought with great fury. This posi- 



266 THE SIEGE AND DOWNFALL OF MEXICO. 

tion, however, being forced, the troops continued their 
march till they came to another breach and another 
parapet. Here again a battle took place ; but it was 
at the third breach that the great fighting of the day 
occurred. Here the gap was much wider, and the 
Mexicans posted in greater force, and behind a more 
formidable parapet. By the aid, however, of the guns 
from the brigantines, the defenders were driven back, 
and the crews, jumping ashore, helped the native allies 
to fill up the breach with stones and bricks. This 
being done, onward rushed the Spaniards till they 
were again stopped by another breach. Here they had 
a formidable encounter and much greater difficulty; 
for these indefatigable Mexicans had thrown up a 
much stronger .parapet. The Spanish army had now 
advanced beyond the support of their brigantines, and 
it was impossible to pass without throwing themselves 
in the water. Moreover, the houses commanding 
the great street, which began at this part of the cause- 
way, were filled with Mexicans, who showered down 
missiles of every description. As for the men at the 
parapet, they fought like enraged lions. But again 
the cannon (for Cortes had two field-pieces with him) 
were planted, and whole masses of warriors were sent 
to their last account. This position gained, the water 
gap was stopped as before by the allies, and the army 
passed right forward to the great square of the city. 
This place was crowded, densely crowded, with Mexi- 
cans, and once more the cannon belched forth destruc- 
tion to hundreds. The square being thus cleared, the 
Spaniards took possession of the great temple. But 
the Mexicans, seeing their hated enemies had not the 



NARROW ESCAPE OF DIAZ. 267 

terrible horsemen with them, returned to the attack, 
and fought with such fury that the Spaniards were 
compelled to retreat, with the loss of one of their field- 
pieces. " At this moment it pleased God," says Cortes, 
" that three horsemen should enter the square; and the 
Mexicans, seeing them advance through a narrow path- 
way, retreated, supposing them to be the front rank of 
a body of horse." The Spaniards again became the 
pursuers, and another fight took place upon the very 
summit of the temple, in which ten or twelve chiefs 
were slain. Night then coming on, Cortes ordered a 
retreat along the causeway to his own quarters. 

During that day the other divisions under Sandoval 
and Alvarado made similar advances upon the capital 
by their respective causeways. The division under 
Alvarado sufiered severely through the imprudence 
of their commander, who allowed them to be decoyed 
across the causeway into an ambuscade in the town. 
A speedy retreat took place ; but having fought their 
way back to an aperture, they found it full of pitfalls 
beneath the water, with stakes placed so that the brig- 
antines could not act. Driven from behind, the 
Spaniards were obliged to leap into the lake. Those 
who could not swim fell into the pits and were 
drowned. Five were reserved for a more terrible fate, 
for they were taken alive. Our brave old chronicler, 
Captain Diaz, seems to have had a narrow escape here. 
"It was a wonder," says he, "that we were not all 
destroyed in the pitfalls. A number of the enemy 
laid hands on me ; but our Lord Jesus Christ gave me 
force to disengage my arm, and by dint of a good 
sword I got free from them, though wounded, and 



268 THE SIEGE AND DOWNFALL OF MEXICO. 

arrived on the dry groundj where I fainted away, and 
remained senseless for a time. This was owing to my 
great exertions and loss of blood. When this mob had 
their claws on me, I recommended myself to our Lord 
and his blessed mother, and they heard my prayer. 
Glorified be they for all their mercies!" 

The siege had lasted now six weeks, and scarcely a 
day passed without a battle, when the Aztec emperor, 
as if determined to wear the assailants out by continual 
efforts, sallied forth and attacked them at every point 
by land and water. These attacks were continued 
two successive nights, and followed up by a concentra- 
tion of the chief portions of his force upon the camp of 
Alvarado. The action was long, and the Spaniards, 
although victorious in the end, must have terribly suf- 
fered; for Diaz says, " If our allies had not been with 
us we should have been lost. Eight of our soldiers 
were killed and Alvarado wounded; but we ultimately 
beat the enemy off, and also made four of their chiefs 
prisoners." The great result of this battle was, that 
most of the cities upon the border and near the great 
lake sent in their adhesion, mth supplies of provisions 
and fresh troops to Cortes. 

The soldiers at length, wearied of this incessant and 
desultory fighting, clamoured for a general attack to 
be made, by which they might seize upon the great 
square, and so be saved the necessity of having their 
work to do over and over again, by withdrawing each 
day from the city. Cortes, however, was opposed to 
this, fearing that to hold such a position in the very 
midst of an enemy who would attack them by night 
and by day would be a harder task than the men could 



COETES ACTS AGAINST HIS OWN JUDGMENT. 269 

endure. Finding himself, however, importuned to the 
same effect by Alderete, the king's treasurer — a person- 
age of high rank and importance — and by his chief 
captains, the general for once acted against his own 
judgment. A day was therefore named for the assault, 
which was to be made by the two divisions under 
Alvarado and the commander-in-chief, Sandoval being 
instructed to draw off the greater portion of his troops 
from the northern causeway and unite with Alvarado. 

On the appointed morning the two divisions, having 
celebrated mass, advanced along their respective cause- 
ways, and after some fighting arrived at the entrance 
of the city. Here there were three avenues, each of 
which terminated in the great square. The principal 
one was much longer than the others, and was flanked 
on either side by deep canals, so that it might be called 
a causeway rather than a street. Up this Alderete 
was ordered to fight his way at the head of 70 
Spaniards and 20,000 allies. The broadest of the other 
two streets was to be occupied by Alvarado and San- 
doval, at the head of 80 Spaniards and 10,000 
Indians, while the general himself was to enter the 
narrowest with a similar force. To protect his rear, 
Cortes left eight horsemen to guard the entrance to his 
street, and a similar body, with two large cannons, at 
the opening to the great street of Tacuba. 

For a time the divisions carried all before them. The 
Mexicans, apparently taken by surprise, retreated 
rapidly; and the victorious Spaniards, cheered by the 
shouts of triumph in the adjoining streets, madly 
followed in pursuit. Cortes, for purposes of prudence, 
had remained behind with a body guard of twenty 



270 THE SIEGE AND DOWNFALL OF MEXICO. 

men. From time to time messengers brought him 
news of the successes of the divisions; Alderete had 
even sent word that he had already gained the 
market-place. The wary chief had but little faith 
in the value of such rapid achievements. He had had 
too much experience of the bravery of the Aztecs to 
believe they would permit themselves to be so easily 
driven back, without some deep motive; at least he 
thought that his too ardent captains, in the heat of 
the chase, might, notwithstanding his strict commands, 
have overlooked the precaution of filling up the 
breaches as they passed — an error which had proved 
so fatal to Alvarado. Determined to trust no other 
than himself, he galloped ofi" to reconnoitre the route 
taken by Alderete up the great street, which was 
flanked by canals. Imagine the consternation of this 
prudent leader when he came in sight of a breach in 
the causeway of ten or twelve paces in width, and 
about twelve feet deep, which, far from being filled up, 
had been passed upon a temporary bridge of wood and 
reeds, and would consequently cut off retreat. He saw 
at once that a trap had been set for Alderete. Deeply 
alarmed, he at once, with his men, set about to repair 
the mischief by filling up the chasm. Scarcely, however, 
had they begun, than the Spaniards and their allies were 
in full retreat, pursued by many thousands of yelling 
Mexicans. Cortes had conjectured rightly. The cava- 
liers had been decoyed into the very heart of the city 
by the apparently retreating Aztecs, when suddenly the 
King of Mexico's horn (the sacred symbol, only heard 
upon occasions of extraordinary peril, and at the sound 
of which every Aztec must go forth to conquer or die) 



HEROIC CONDUCT OF CORTES. 271 

sent out a long and piercing note. In an instant tlie 
retreating enemy, as if maddened at the sound, 
wheeled round upon their pursuers; simultaneously 
swarms of warriors came, from the lanes and streets 
adjoining, attacking upon every side; and clouds of 
stones and deadly missiles were flung from the tops 
of the houses. Blinded, staggering, on they came, 
scarcely knowing how, treading down one another, to 
the open breach, upon the other side of which stood 
their general, who now resigned all hope of the con- 
quest of Mexico, nay, of life. " But," says this brave 
leader in one of his letters, " I had made up my mind to 
die helping my poor followers out of their extremity." 
Well might these thoughts have passed through his 
mind ; well might he name this breach the Bridge of 
Affliction ; for the foremost files soon plunged into the 
gulf, treading one another under the flood, till the 
whole aperture had become so full of Indians and 
Christians that there was not room for a straw to 
float upon the water. 

Thinking of nought but the safety of his men, he 
stood upon the brink, endeavouring to rescue the poor 
fellows from drowning, or the more dreadful fate that 
awaited them in the event of captivity, and this, too, 
at no slight risk to himself. For Cortes dead, Guate- 
mozin would have given the half of his empire ; for 
Cortes alive, the whole. Of this the Aztec warriors were 
aware. They, moreover, well knew the general's person. 
Still Cortes continued at his humane employment, 
regardless of darts, stones, and arrows, which were 
falling as thick as hail upon his armour and helmet. 
At length he was recognized by six of the bravest of 

T 



272 THE SIEGE AND DOWNFALL OF MEXICO. 

the Mexican chiefs, who, with the ciy of " Malinche ! 
Malinche ! Malinche ! " seized the general, and began to 
drag him to a boat. He received a severe wound in the 
leg; indeed, now there seemed no hope for him. 
" Bvit it was the will of God that he should escape," 
says Diaz. Christoval de Olea, seeing the danger of 
his beloved master, came to the rescue. With a single 
blow he struck off the arm of one chief, and then 
plunged his sword into another. Then came another 
comrade (Lerma) and a Tlascalan chief, who, fighting 
over the prostrate body of Cortes, slew three more, 
and thus was a life so valuable at that crisis saved, 
not, however, without the loss of the heroic Olea, 
who fell mortally wounded at his general's side. A 
report that their commander had been taken had 
reached the ears of the soldiers, and now Quinones, 
the captain of his body-guard, came up with a few 
men. They found Cortes still struggling with some 
fresh assailants. These, however, they speedily felled : 
when, raising him from the water, they placed him on 
the causeway. He must have been greatly beloved, 
for at this moment his page, Guzman, came pressing 
through the crowd with a horse; but, as this poor 
youth held the bridle, while his master was being 
assisted upon the animal's back, he was snatched away 
by some Aztecs, who succeeded in carrying him off 
to their canoes, and thence to be sacrificed. Wounded 
as he was, and still in such imminent danger, the 
chivalrous Cortes would still have remained. Quin- 
ones, however, taking the horse by the bridle, turned 
its head from the breach, exclaiming that his general's 
life was too important to the whole army to be thrown 



A TERRIBLE RUSE. 273 

away tliere; and Cortes, wlio at the moment wished 
for nothing better than death, was prevailed upon to 
fly to the front of the great street of Tacuba, where, 
getting his troops in order, he commanded their retreat 
across the causeway, under cover of the artillery and 
the horsemen, which it will be remembered he had 
posted at that spot. 

The division led by Alvarado was more fortunate. 
That officer had penetrated into the heart of the city, 
driving all before him, till they were met by a fresh 
body of Mexican troops, who, throwing down five 
bloody heads, cried, — " Thus will we slay you as we 
have slain Malinche and Sandoval, whose heads these 
are." Immediately they commenced so furious an 
attack, that the Spaniards could neither use their 
cross-bows, muskets, nor swords. The great difficulty 
the soldiers ever found in making a retreat was the 
number of allies in their rear. There was little diffi- 
culty, however, upon this occasion ; " for no sooner did 
the Indians see these bloody heads," says Diaz, " than 
they fled, nor did one remain on the causeway to 
impede our retreat." The Spaniards, therefore, re- 
treated in good order. Suddenly, however, they heard 
the awful beat of the great drum of serpents' skins in 
the temple of the war-god. It must have reminded 
them of the terrible noche triste, the only time they 
had ever heard that sound, which Diaz compares to a 
mournful noise such as may be imagined to be the 
music of the infernal gods. Turning their heads to- 
wards the great temple, they beheld a procession 
winding up the sides of the pyramid, in the midst of 
which, when it reached the summit, they saw the 



274 THE SIEGE AND DOWNFALL OF MEXICO. 

figures of several men stripped to the waists, some of 
whom, by the whiteness of their skins, they recog- 
nized as their own countrymen. They were the vic- 
tims for sacrifice. Their heads were decorated with 
plumes, and they carried fans in their hands. They 
were urged along by blows, and compelled to take part 
in the dances in honour of the war-god. After this 
they were deprived of their sad finery, stretched upon 
the stone of sacrifice, and the horrid rite then being 
performed, the hearts were placed in a golden censer, 
and the bodies thrown to the cannibals beneath, who, 
preserving the limbs for their detestable banquet, threw 
the other parts to the beasts. We can imagine with 
what sensations the brave fellows returned to their 
quarters. " Let the reader," says Diaz, " consider what 
pity we must have had for these our companions, and 
how we said to one another, — ' Oh, thanks be to 
God that they did not carry off me to-day to sacri- 
fice.'" 

This horrible ruse of throwing down before one divi- 
sion, the heads of the prisoners they had taken from 
another, and declaring that they were those of the 
chief commanders, was successful. It discouraged 
Sandoval, who retreated with loss to his quarters; it 
had the same effect upon Alvarado; but upon Cortes 
it told the most; for when, after that terrible struggle 
at the aperture, the Mexicans followed the general to 
his camp, and, throwing down several heads, declared 
them to be those of Tonatiuh (Alvarado), Sandoval, 
and other teules, he was seized with a despair and 
melancholy that did not leave him till at some time 
during the day Sandoval rode over to his chief's 



SANDOVAL AND CORTES. 275 

quarters. This interview is memorable; for upon 
seeing his general he exclaimed, — " Oh, senor captain, 
what is this 1 Are these the great counsels and the 
artifices which you have been wont to show us ? 
How has this disaster happened ?" " Oh, son Sando- 
val," replied Cortes, who was wont to term him 
thus, "my sins have permitted this; but I am not 
so culpable in the business as they make out. It is 
the fault of the treasurer, Juan de Alderete, whom 
I charged to fill up that difficult pass where they 
routed us ; but he did not do so, for he is not accus- 
tomed to war, nor to be commanded by superior 
officers." As the general spoke, the treasurer entered 
the tent and began to dispute with him. Cortes, 
however, changed the subject by telling Sandoval to 
go to the camp at Tacuba, and see what had befallen 
that division (Alvarado's) ; at the same time, em- 
bracing his favourite captain, he said, — "Look you, 
since I cannot go to all parts, I commend these 
labours to you; for, as you perceive, I am wounded 
and lame. I implore you, therefore, take charge of 
these three camps; for although I well know Pedro 
de Alvarado and his soldiers' bravery, I fear the 
great force of those Mexican dogs." 

Guatemozin and his subjects made the most of 
the victory. They abandoned themselves to singing, 
dancing, and feasting on the mangled remains of 
their victims. Each day prisoners were sacrificed to 
the gods. But none rejoiced more than the priests, 
who declared that the ofiended deity, Huitzilopotchli, 
appeased by the many sacrifices, had again taken the 
Aztecs under his protection, and before the expira- 



276 THE SIEGE AND DOWNFALL OF MEXICO. 

tion of eiglit days would deliver their enemies into 
their hands. 

The Mexicans, confidently believing in this prediction, 
thundered it into the ears of the besieging army. The 
Spaniards laughed at it. The Indian allies, however, 
were fully convinced of its truthfulness, and having 
lost faith in the invincibility of their European friends, 
and disgusted with the perils and sufferings they had 
already undergone, were eager, by a timely abandon- 
ment of the cause, to avert what would otherwise be 
the dread vengeance of the Aztecs. By night, there- 
fore, battalion after battalion deserted, till Cortes had 
left in his camp but one in every thousand. 

This was a terrible crisis; but still the Spaniards 
kept alive the remembrance that they had sworn to 
each other to conquer or die. Even the Spanish 
women in the camps relieved their husbands by don- 
ning their armour and mounting guard in their turn. 
It is told of one, whose name should have been recorded, 
that hastily seizing a sword and lance, she on one 
occasion rallied a party of lier retreating countrymen, 
and led them against the enemy. Before setting out 
for the siege, Cortes had endeavoured to persuade his 
countrywomen to remain at Tlascala. " No," was the 
reply; "it is the duty of Castilian wives not to aban- 
don their husbands in danger, but to share it with 
them, and die with them if necessary," 



277 



CHAPTER XIY. 



CAPTURE OF GUATEMOZIN AND SURRENDER OF MEXICO. 

Ten days of terrible anxiety for the Spaniards now- 
passed. Each night the iUuminations in the chief 
temple, and the roll of the dreadful drum of serpents' 
skins, proclaimed to the wounded and wearied men 
that fresh victims were being offered up for sacrifice. 
One of the last of these was the poor page. Guzman. 
Deserted by their allies, their ammunition nearly gone, 
cut off from supplies, a savage enemy before, and an 
unfriendly country in their rear, many of those brave 
hearts trembled, not vdth fear at death, but with dread 
at what their fate might be should they fall alive into 
the hands of the cannibal Mexicans. " The lowest depth 
of adversity is the beginning of prosperity," says a 
Mohammedan proverb; so, nerved by des23air, the 
Spaniards bided their time. Two neighbouring cities 
were attacked by the victorious Mexicans. Cortes, 
against the advice of his officers, sent detachments to 
their aid, and both, as the general had foreseen, proved 
successful. The grateful cities despatched reinforce- 
ments to the Spanish camp. The tide now turned ; for 
when several days had passed over and above the time 
predicted by the priests for the destruction of the 
Christians, and the few Tezcucan and Tlascaian chiefs 



278 CAPTUEE OF GUATEMOZIN. 

wIlo had remained bj tlie side of Cortes sent to acquaint 
their fleeing countrymen of the failure of the prophecy, 
"the warriors, enraged that they had been made the 
dupes of the hated Mexicans, returned to the camp, and 
being received by Cortes with a rebuke for their 
desertion, again declared that they would conquer or 
die beneath his banner. This time they kept their 
jjromise. Fortune, who ever seemed ashamed to 
leave her hero long in extremity, now sent to "Vera 
Cruz a ship laden with ammunition and stores, all of 
which were speedily taken by the governor, and 
forwarded at once to the camp. 

Before recommencing active operations, the general 
sent three of his prisoners to Guatemozin, praying him 
to spare his subjects further suffering, by returning to 
his allegiance to the Spanish crown. " In that case," 
ran the message, "the past shall be forgotten; the 
persons, property, and rights of the people shall be 
respected, and you be confirmed in your authority." 

" For the moment, so terrible was the rage of the 
Indian prince, that the messengers expected instant 
death. Guatemozin, however, being soothed, called his 
council, and demanded their opinion." " Peace is 
good," they replied, " but not with white men. Remem- 
ber the fate of Montezuma; the requital he met with 
for his kindness ; the seizure of Cacama j the insatiable 
avarice of these people, who have stripped the country 
of its treasures, and profaned our religion. E-emember 
Alvarado's massacre of the nobles. iNTo ; it is better," 
they concluded, "to trust to our own gods; better, if 
need be, give up our lives at once, than drag them out 
in slavery and suffering among false strangers." " Since 



DESTEUCTION OF THE SANCTUAEIES. 279 

it is SO," replied the young emperor, " let us only think 
of supplying the wants of the people. Let no man 
henceforth who values his life talk of surrender. We 
can at least die like warriors." 

Two days the Spaniards awaited a reply. It came 
in the form of a general sortie from the city. This was 
repelled after a great battle. Cortes now resolved 
upon the total destruction of tlie city ; that it should be 
entered as before, by the different causeways ; but that 
every street, as it was gained, should be pulled down, 
and the materials used to fill up the canals. Thus 
should he get rid of those two serious causes of annoy- 
ance, the azoteas, or house tops, from which the enemy 
had done so much execution, and the canals that had 
been the cause of more than one disaster. 

So successful was this plan of destruction, that in a 
few days the Spaniards had hewn their path through 
thousands of the inhabitants, up to the summit of the 
great temple, upon the area of which a sanguinary fight 
took place, ending in the slaughter of the Mexicans, 
who were either thrown headlong down the sides, or 
mixed their blood with that of their victims, with 
which the pavement was still reeking. With what 
feelings, compounded of horror and delight, must the 
Spaniards have taken possession of this hateful build- 
ing, for before the altars of the idols were placed the 
heads of many of their fellow-soldiers. Tears filled 
their eyes as they gazed upon this terrible spectacle; 
but it re-strung their nerves, and filled their hearts 
with vengeance. The detested sanctuaries were burned? 
and the idols toppled down upon the heads of their 
worshippers, who shrieked with terror as they saw the 



280 CAPTURE OF GUATEMOZIN. 

destruction of deities upon whom they relied for protec- 
tion. For days, while the great city was being fought 
for and gained inch by inch — for the Mexicans would 
neither give nor take quarter — beneath the floating 
standard of Castile, the heroic Cortes stood directing 
the fight. The general had issued strict orders that 
the wounded, the sick, the old, women and children, 
should not be molested. Alas! this availed but little 
with the Tlascalan and other Indian allies. Like fiends 
of destruction, they burned and destroyed wherever 
they came. In one night, it is said, they took 500 pris- 
oners, all of whom, being distributed among their vast 
numbers (there must have been hundreds of thousands; 
for as the Spaniards continued to hold possession of 
each part of the city as they took it, clouds of Indians 
flocked to their standard), were speedily devoured. 
Thus literally hewing, burning, and destroying, the 
Christian Spaniards fought their way for several days. 
The royal palace had been demolished, and Guatemozin 
had retired to a distant but well-fortified nook of his 
city. 

This continued fighting having brought their ammu- 
nition to a low ebb, one Sotelo, who had been a soldier 
in Italy, boasted to Cortes that he could make a cata- 
pult, i. e., an engine by means of which such enormous < 
stones could be hurled, that in two days the quarter to 
which the emperor had fled could be destroyed. The 
general gave the man permission; but so imj)erfectly 
was the machine erected, that when set in motion, the 
huge stone, instead of taking, the direction against the 
enemy's buildings, rose high and perpendicularly, and 
descending from whence it had arisen, broke the 



MISERIES OF THE BESIEGED. 281 

machine into splinters, wliereupon, says an eye-wit- 
ness, the general, much vexed that he had been so cre- 
dulous, rebuked Sotelo. But still it continued the 
joke of the army. 

For many days the brave Guatemozin and his 
devoted subjects remained hemmed in this, the worst 
portion of the city. Their suJBferings must have been 
terrible. Nobles, citizens, slaves, men, women, and 
children were pent up together in houses or hovels; 
others in the open air in boats, shivering in the cold 
rains of night, or scorched beneath the burning sun by 
day. "For three days and nights," says one chronicler, 
" two ladies of high rank remained up to their necks 
in water among the reeds, with only a handful of maize 
for their support." The miserable wretches wandered 
about in search of anything, however revolting, to 
appease their hunger. Many a mother in her agony 
devoured the offspring she had no longer the means of 
supporting, while hundreds of famished wretches died 
every day, some in nooks and corners, others in the 
public streets, where they were left ; yet amidst all this, 
there was no complaint, nought but deep, unutterable 
woe. "I have read," says Diaz "of the destruction of 
Jerusalem j but I cannot conceive that the mortality 
there exceeded this of Mexico ; for all the people from 
the distant provinces which belonged to this empire 
had concentrated themselves here, where they mostly 
died. The streets, the squares, the houses, and the 
courts of the Taltelulco were covered with dead bodies : 
we could not step without treading on them ; the lake 
and canals were filled with them, and the stench 
was intolerable. For this reason our troops, imme- 



282 CAPTURE OF GUATEilOZm, 

diately after the capture of the royal family, retired 
to their former quarters. Cortes himself was for some 
time ill from the effect of it." • 

Hoping that the sufferings of his people would 
speedily bring the emperor to surrender, Cortes had 
suspended hostilities some days. Finding this useless, 
he again marched to the attack, but was met by 
several of the leading chiefs, who, with wan and 
haggard looks, and holding out their emaciated arms 
in piteous despair, exclaimed, — "■ You are the children 
of the sun ; but the sun is swift in his course. Why 
are you, then, so tardy ? Why do you delay so long 
to put an end to our miseries? Eather kill us at 
once, that we may go to our god Huitzilopotchli, who 
waits for us in heaven to give us rest from our 
sufferings !" 

Moved almost to tears, the stern conqueror replied, — 
"Why does your master refuse to treat with me, when 
a single hour will suffice for me to crush him and all 
his people? "Go," he added, "and tell him to confer 
with me. He may do so in safety, — his person shall not 
be molested." The chiefs obeyed; but still the em- 
peror held out, and another battle took place, in which 
40,000 Aztecs fell. This great slaughter was per- 
petrated chiefly by the Tlascalans, of whom Cortes 
himself said, — " Never did I see so pitiless a race, or 
anything wearing the form of man so destitute of 
humanity." 

The general determined to follow up this victory by 
another attack the next day. But again he endeav- 
oured to bring the emperor to terms. Some chiefs 
held a conference with him. " Surely," said he, " your 



CONFERENCE WITH CHIEFS. 283 

king will not see you all perish wlien he can so easily 
save you. Go-, beg of him to come forward in person." 

The envoys departed, and speedily their chief next 
in authority appeared. " The Emperor Guatemozin," 
said he, " is ready to die, but he will hold no commu- 
nication with you. It is, therefore," he added resign- 
edly, " for you to work your pleasure j" at which Cortes, 
losing all patience, replied sternly, — " Go, then, and 
prepare your countrymen for death. Their hour .is 
come." Then commenced a battle which in butchery 
rivalled that of the preceding day. During the con- 
test, Sandoval, who had command of a flotilla, heard 
that the emperor and his family had escaped in a large 
boat; he therefore at once ordered a Captain Holguin, 
who commanded the fastest sailing brigantine in the 
fleet, to go in chase of the royal family. 

After a short race, coming alongside one large boat 
which he conceived might contain the fugitives, he 
ordered his men to level their cross-bows. Before, how- 
ever, they could discharge them, a cry arose among the 
Mexicans that their emperor was on board. At the 
same time a young warrior, armed with, buckler and 
sword, rose as if to beat off" the Spaniards ; but as the 
commander ordered his men not to shout, he put down 
his weapons, exclaiming, "I am Guatemozin; lead me 
to Malinche, I am his prisoner; but let no harm come 
to my wife and my followers." 

The captives, who were twenty in number, besides 
Guatemozin, included the King of Tezcuco. When 
seated on the deck of the brigantine, the Spanish cap- 
tain requested the emperor to command his people to 
discontinue the fight. " It is not necessary," he replied 



284 CAPTURE OF GUATEMOZIN. 

with a sad air; "they will fight no longer when they 
see their sovereign is taken." He spoke the truth, for 
as the news of the royal capture spread throughout the 
fleet, the Mexican warriors laid down their arms; nay, 
they had only continued the fight this day, that by 
occupying the attention of the Spaniards, they might 
cover their beloved master's retreat. Sandoval, receiv- 
ing tidings of the capture, brought his brigantine 
alongside, and demanded the royal prisoner to be sur- 
rendered to him; but the captain demanded the prize, 
and a dispute arose, each being anxious to claim the 
glory of having performed so great a deed, and perhaps 
the permission of the King of Spain to commemorate 
it in his coat of arms. Cortes, however, hearing of 
the capture, sent orders to his captains to bring their 
prisoners at once before him, that he might adjust the 
difference between them. 

When this good news was brought to the general 
he was on the summit of the great temple. There he 
improvised a kind of state, by causing the terrace to be 
covered with a crimson carpet. Upon this was placed a 
table, covered with provisions, so much needed by the 
starving Aztecs. Here, with Dona Marina seated by 
his side, to act as interpreter, the Spanish commander 
received the last Emperor of Anahuac. 

Guatemozin, who was attended by an escort of in- 
fantry, entered the presence of his great enemy and 
conqueror with a calm and steady step. Cortes arose, 
and advanced to meet his prisoner with a dignified and 
studied courtesy. Guatemozin was the first to speak. 
" Malinche," said he, " I have done that which was 
my duty in the defence of my kingdom and people; 



TERMINATION OF THE SIEGE. 28-5 

my efforts have failed, and being now brought a 
prisoner before you, draw that poignard from your 
side and slay me." 

Filled with admiration at the noble bearing of the 
young emperor, the general embraced him, saying, 
" Fear not, you shall be treated with all honour. You 
have defended your capital like a brave warrior. A 
Spaniard knows how to respect valour even in an 
enemy." 

Cortes then inquired after the queen his wife, and 
being informed that she remained on board the brigan- 
tine, under the protection of a Spanish guard, he sent 
to have her escorted to his presence. This princess, 
who was the youngest daughter of the unhappy Monte- 
zuma, the general received with the greatest respect; 
and having invited his royal prisoners to partake of 
refreshment, he ordered Sandoval to conduct the 
prisoners to Cuyoacan, whither he intended speedily to 
follow. 

With the capture of Guatemozin, which happened 
at the hour of vespers, on the 13th of August, 1521, 
'^ended the famous siege of Mexico, after a struggle of 
seventy-five days, during which there had fallen, accord- 
ing to the estimate of Cortes, 117,000 Mexicans, and 
not less than 30,000 of the allies, without including the 
Spaniards, whose loss was comparatively small. 

During the night a tremendous storm burst over 
the valley of Mexico, such as the Spaniards had never 
witnessed. In the eloquent words of Prescott, " The 
thunder reverberating from the rocky amphitheatre of 
hills, bellowed over the waste of waters, and shook the 
teocallis and crazy tenements of Tenochtitlan — the few 



286 . SUREENDER OF MEXICO. 

tliat yet survived — to their foundations. The light- 
ning seemed to cleave asunder the vault of heaven, as 
its vivid flashes wrapped the whole scene in a ghastly- 
glare for a moment, to be again swallowed up in dark- 
ness. The war of elements was in unison with the 
fortunes of the ruined city. It seemed as if the deities 
of Anahuac, scared from their ancient abodes, were 
borne along shrieking and howling in the blast, as they 
abandoned the fallen capital to its fate !" 

The day following the surrender, Cortes gave orders 
for the evacuation of the city, in order that it might 
be purified. The remaining inhabitants, from 30,000 
to 70,000, proceeded to the open country. For three 
days they were defiling along the causeways — a mourn- 
ful train; husbands, wives, parents, and children, the 
sick and wounded leaning on one another for support. 
As they feebly tottered along, squalid and but half 
covered with rags, their wasted forms and famine- 
stricken faces told the sad history of the siege. 

The allies having been dismissed with presents, and 
a promise from the general that the King of Spain 
would give them fitting rewards hereafter, the Span- 
iards held a sumptuous banquet; but to such an ex- 
cess did they carry their revelry that it provoked the 
censure of the good Father Olmedo. The general 
admitted the justice of the rebuke, but craving some 
indulgence for a soldier's license in the hour of victory, 
he appointed the following day for a solemn thanks- 
giving to the God of battles, who had enabled them to 
plant the cross of Christ above the ruins of the detested 
superstition which was henceforth expunged from the 
land. 



DISCONTENT OF THE ARMY. 287 

But the rejoicings over, the city cleared of its 
dead, and the air purified from pestilence, the Span- 
iards, chiefly l^arvaez's troops, bethought them that 
they had encountered all their miseries and sujBferings 
to be rewarded with gold. How grievous then was 
their disappointment at the distribution of the spoil, 
to find, after the royal fifths had been deducted, their 
shares to be so small that many rejected them with 
contempt. The soldiers broke out into open mutiny, 
some declaring that Guatemozin had buried the trea- 
sures, and should be tortured till he revealed the secret. 
Cortes, resisting this demand, was accused of a secret 
understanding with the Aztec prince, in order to de- 
fraud the Spanish sovereign and themselves. Stung 
by these taunts — in an evil hour for his fame — the 
general delivered Guatemozin into their hands. All 
that could be extracted from him was, that consider- 
able quantities of treasure had been thrown into the 
water. But Cortes, disgusted with himself at having 
delivered np the monarch, rescued him. The soldiers 
then, turning upon their commander, charged him with 
cruelty to the princa Indeed, to such an extent did 
the discontent grow, that the general could only arrest 
it by threats of severe punishment; and this he had 
the power of enforcing, for in the hour of his success 
all the natives of Anahuac were flocking to his stan- 
dard. For every difficulty Cortes had a remedy. To 
rid himself of these grumblers, he now sent out detach- 
ments under his chief officers to found colonies in dif- 
ferent parts of the continent, where, from the books of 
Montezuma, it was found that gold, precious stones, 
and other valuable products were to be found, 



288 SURRENDER OF MEXICO. 

The conquest being completed, Cortes ajjplied him- 
self to building towns and settling colonies through- 
out New Spain. To facilitate his plans, he invited 
Spaniards from Spain and the West India Islands by 
grants of land and repartimientos of Indians. His chief 
care, however, was the rebuilding of Mexico. Having 
chosen the site, he apportioned the ground for churclies, 
monasteries, squares, and public buildings, dividing the 
remainder among the natives, whom he permitted to 
live under their own chiefs. By these politic means 
the capital of Montezuma soon swarmed with a busy, 
industrious population, in which the white man and 
the Indian, the conquerors and the conquered, mixed 
together engaged in the arts of peace ; and in less than 
twenty years after the conquest, according to the asser- 
tion of a missionary, Europe could not boast a finer or 
more opulent city. This favourable account of the 
happy blending of the conquerors and the conquered is 
given by the Spaniards themselves. It must therefore 
be received cum grano salts, the more especially as we 
know that, with the exception of the Tlascalans, w^ho, 
as a reward for their past services, were exempted 
from slavery, the great mass of the natives were ap- 
portioned among the Spaniards — in other words, given 
over to slavery. As an excuse for the Emperor 
Charles Y. having adopted the wicked system of re- 
partimientos, so common in the West India Islands, 
Cortes said, "That without enforcing the services of 
the natives the Spaniards could not hold the land; 
therefore it was that he had waived any scruples he 
might otherwise have had." 






289 



CHAPTER XV. 



SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF CORTES. 

Among the earliest arrivals in Mexico from the islands 
was Dona Catalina, the wife of Cortes. She was 
received with all the honours due to the exalted posi- 
tion of her husband; but vfithin three months the 
poor lady succumbed to the climate ; and as her death 
happened at a point in her husband's fortunes when 
he might be able, as indeed he did subsequently, to 
form an alliance with one of the princely houses of 
Spain, there were those among his enemies who ac- 
cused him of being the cause. 

"While Cortes and his chief officers, Alvarado and 
Sandoval, were engaged in settling the country, news 
reached him that the provinces of Higuiras and Hon- 
duras contained rich mines. Some sailors declared 
that the native fishermen of those countries used 
golden weights alloyed with copper for their nets. 
They farther said that in the same direction a strait 
or passage into the Pacific might be discovered. The 
general therefore at once despatched a considerable 
armament under Christoval de Olid, with orders to 
steer for Honduras and plant a colony on its northern 
coast, after which he was to send a squadron in search 
of the strait. Arriving in Honduras, Olid founded 



290 SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF CORTES. 

the colony of El Triumplio de la Cruz; but, intoxicated 
with his new and separate command, he very speedily 
declared himself independent of Cortes. The general 
receiving these tidings, desj)atclied Francisco de Las 
Casas with a force to punish his rebellion. Captain 
Las Casas was wrecked, and fell into Olid's power; but 
eventually succeeding in raising an insurrection in the 
colony, he seized Olid and caused him to be beheaded. 

As only the wreck of Las Casas, and not his ultimate 
success, came to the ears of Cortes, the general at once 
set out to punish Olid himself. Although attended 
by the retinue of an eastern emperor — buffoons, dan- 
cers, singers, musicians, and a host of servants — this 
m.arch is one of the most terrible on record ; the way 
being through woods and forests so entangled, gloomy, 
and monotonous, that the soldiers, imagining them- 
selves lost, began to despair. The trees were so thick 
as to exclude the rays of the sun, and if any eminence 
occasionally occurred from which a wider survey could 
be made, nothing was to be seen but an endless con- 
tinuation of the same terrible forests. But nothing 
could daunt the heart of Cortes. Tor 1,000 miles he 
pursued his way, and, conquering every difficulty, at 
length succeeded in reaching the colony. The general 
having reduced the settlers to subjection, and still 
burning with desire to add fresh possessions to the 
Castilian crown, he was about to continue a jom-ney 
along the coast; but suddenly he received news that 
an insurrection had broken out in the capital, and, if 
he would save that city, he must return at once. 

On the march to Honduras, Cortes, who feared the 
consequences of leaving such important personages be- 



MUEDER OF GUATEMOZIN AND HIS COUSIN. 291 

bind, took witla him Gnatemozin and Lis consin, tlie 
King of Tacuba. An Indian in liis train informed 
the general that a conspiracy had been set on foot, 
headed by the two Aztec princes, to massacre them 
when they should be entangled in the passage of some 
defile or morass, after which they would march to 
Honduras, slay the Spaniards there, and so by degrees 
reconquer Mexico. Guaterhozin and his cousin were 
arrested, and after a short examination, in which 
Captain Diaz, who was present, says, the princes 
proved their innocence, Cortes ordered them to be 
hanged. "When brought to the ceiba tree, Gnate- 
mozin, addressing the general, said, — " I knew what it 
was to trust to your false promises, Malinche; I knew 
that you had destined me to this fate, since I did not 
fall by my own hand when you entered my city of 
Tenochtitlan. Why do you slay me so unjustly 1 
God will demand it of you !" The unfortunate 
princes were then hanged upon a tree that over- 
shadowed the road. 

This is the foulest blot on the reputation of Cortes. 
That the punishment was unmerited we have the tes- 
timony of Diaz, who says, " The execution of Gnate- 
mozin and his cousin was most undeserved, and so it 
appeared to us all tmjust and cruel." To account for 
this inexcusable and wanton act of cruelty, nay, per- 
fidy, after the general's promise to the prince, we must 
remember that, while these two great chiefs lived, he 
had always before his eyes a rising of the Aztecs. 
So fearful was he of Guatemozin's escape, that he never 
quitted the city of Mexico without taking that prince 
with him. Thus, at the first opportunity, he struck 



292 SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF CORTES. 

a blow tlaat should rid him of so great an encum- 
brance. 

The news received bj Cortes from Mexico was suffi- 
ciently alarming. Discussions had broken out among 
those he had left to govern the city in his absence. 
Some had spread a report that the general and his 
army had perished in the morasses or forests. Upon 
this they declared their sovereign authority, caused 
funeral ceremonies to be performed in his honour, and 
took possession of his property. They also seized the 
goods of the absent soldiers, tyrannized over the Spanish 
residents, and so sorely oppressed the native popula- 
tion that a general rising was feared; hence Zuazo, 
who had communicated this news, implored the 
general to return. Cortes accordingly embarked with 
a few followers ; but a tempest so disabled the vessel 
he was compelled to go back to Honduras. A second 
attempt proving equally unsuccessful, his spirit quailed, 
for he believed that heaven had thus signified its will 
that he should not return to Mexico. He therefore 
sent a trusty messenger, informing his friends of his 
personal safety in Honduras ; but so emaciated and ex- 
hausted was he by illness and mental suffering (Diaz- 
intimates that the murder of Guatemozin was upon 
his conscience), that he instituted public prayers to 
heaven to avert its anger, and then prepared for death. 
From this despondency, however, he was at length 
aroused by the exertions of his friend Sandoval and 
the receipt of other letters from Mexico, and he again 
embarked. Upon his arrival, the people, mad with 
joy at the sight of the only man who could rescue the 
country from its state of anarchy, threw triumphal 



CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST CORTES. "293 

arches across tlie roads, and strewed flowers in Lis 
path as he passed on towards Mexico, the citizens of 
which came out to welcome and escort him once more 
to his princely residence. 

"While these ev^ents were going forward in the New 
World, the enemies of Cortes were not wanting in 
activity at the court of Spain. They had assailed his 
character with the foulest imputations. "He had," 
they said, "appropriated to his own use treasures 
belonging to the crown ; he had distributed the chief 
of&ces among his own creatures, and obtained un- 
bounded influence over both Spaniards and natives ; 
had expeuded immeuse sums in fortifying both the 
capital and his own palace; in short, that he was 
preparing to shake ofi" his allegiance to Spain, and 
establish a new sovereignty." He was, moreover, 
accused of the murder of his wife. 

Alarmed at even the probability of these grave 
charges, the Emperor Charles sent out Luis Ponce de 
Leon, a man of high rank, with powers to investigate 
the matter. At the same time he wrote a letter in his 
own hand to Cortes, advising him of this step, and 
assuring him that it was not from distrust of him, but 
to afford him the opportunity of placing his character 
in its proper light before the world. From the known 
integrity of De Leon, it is probable that the investiga- 
tion would have resulted in favour of the general; but, 
unfortunately, that minister died of fever soon after his 
arrival in Mexico. On his death-bed he delegated his 
office to an aged man, who lived but a short time, and ' 
who appointed as his successor one Estrada, the king's 
treasurer, and a personal enemy of Cortes, So great 



294 SUBSEQUENT CAREER OP CORTES. 

was the general's popnlarity, however, among the 
colonists, that thej offered to take up arms in his 
defence ; but this he forbade, contenting himself with 
laying down his authority and retiring to an estate at 
some distance from the capital. The court of Spain, 
however, acknowledging the incompetency of Estrada, 
ordered his recall, and appointed a commission, entitled 
-*che Koyal Audience, to proceed to Mexico, where they 
were to examine into the charges against Cortes, with 
instructions to send him to Europe, if necessary by 
force. Still in fear that their great vassal might 
defy the commission, they sent him a letter, in which 
he was commanded to return, to consult with them on 
Indian affairs, and to receive the reward of his high 
merits. All this scheming, however, was unnecessary, 
for Cortes had long determined to return to SjDain and 
vindicate himself at the throne of the emperor. On his 
voyage he was accompanied by his friend, the gallant 
Sandoval, some other of his officers, and many Aztec 
and Tlascalan nobles. At Yilla Rica he was delayed 
for a time to celebrate the obsequies of his father, Don 
Martin Cortes, of whose death he there received tidings. 
But in May, 1528, he arrived at Palos, that port from 
which Columbus had sailed upon his first voyage. In 
this town, it is worthy of remark that he met Fran- 
cisco Pizarro, the subsequent conqueror of Peru, who 
was then on his way to court to solicit aid for his great 
enterprise. At this same town, and time, another event 
occurred which threw a cloud over the glories of the 
conqueror — the death of his devoted officer and faithful 
friend, Gonzalo de Sandoval, who, soon after landing, 
was seized with a fever, of which he died, but in the 



SUDDEN DEATH OF SANDOVAL. 295 

arms of liis old commander. Thus, after enconnteriug 
death in its most terrible forms during the advance 
from the sea up to the great plateau, the fierce siege of 
Mexico, and the more terrible march to Honduras, in 
a wretched inn died the most generous, chivalrous, and 
popular of the captains of the conquest. His remains 
were interred with all solemnity by the friars in the 
cemetery of the convent of La Rabida, 

The news of the unexpected arrival in Spain of the 
jealously-regarded vassal produced an extraordinary 
effect, not only upon his countrymen in general, but 
upon the court. All jealousy was forgotten; his ma- 
ligners were silenced. The greatest princes in the land 
advanced to meet him ; the houses and streets swarmed 
with people anxious to gaze upon the conqueror ; in fact, 
his journey to Toledo more resembled one of the great 
progresses of the emperor than the going to court of a 
powerful vassal. The sun of imperial fevour now shone 
u23on the hero. He was graciously received by the 
emperor, who, as an acknowledgment of his services, 
created him Marquis of the Yalley of Oaxaca, and 
bestowed upon him a domain which comprehended 
more than twenty large towns and 23,000 dependents. 
This was a magnificent reward ; but it is as well to 
remember that the estates and vassals had first been 
taken by the newly-made marquis himself from the 
Aztec emperor. Further, to show his confidence in 
Cortes, the emperor commanded him to appear by his 
side upon all public occasions, and once when the general 
was ill of fever Charles even visited his sick bed. 

In the governorship, or rather viceroyalty of the 
empire he had conquered, the emperor refused to confirm 



296 SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF CORTES. 

the marquis. To prevent all chance of their adven- 
turous generals and admirals becoming independent, it 
had ever been the policy of the kings of Spain to 
encourage one class of men to make conquests, but 
another to rule over them afterwards. Hence Cortes 
received the appointments of Captain-general of New 
Spain, and Admiral of the Coasts of the South Sea, with 
power to make discoveries therein, and the right to 
rule over such lands as he should colonize. But not 
the least of the rewards bestowed upon the successful 
soldier was the hand of the beautiful niece of the Duke 
de Bejar, by which he became allied to some of the 
most illustrious families in Castile. 

The main object of this work being attained with 
the conquest of Mexico, and the return of the con- 
queror to Spain, I have now but to give a sketch of 
the hero's subsequent career. In the spring of 1530 
the marquis, accompanied by his wife, returned to New 
Spain. For a time he devoted himself to the cultiva- 
tion and improvement of his vast estates, and the 
welfare of his vassals. The love, however, of glory 
and fame had become a part of his existence; so, find- 
ing himself debarred from taking a leading part in the 
government of the country, he eagerly engaged in the 
prosecution of geographical discoveries. Accordingly 
he fitted out, at his own expense, an expedition to 
examine the north-west coast; but this proving a failure, 
he fitted out another, of which he took the command 
in person. This not only met with the like result, but 
was more disastrous, the only consequence being (as it 
has since proved, no slight one) the discovery of the pen- 
insula of California. Again he sent succours to Pizarro 



i 



CORTES AT ALGIEES. 297 

in two ships, ordering the captains to steer from Peru 
to the Moluccas. This voyage was successful; but the 
cost to Cortes of these expeditions was 300,000 crowns 
— a loss so great that his afi^xirs became embarrassed. 
Still he prepared to send out another expedition under 
the command of a natural son, Don Luis. But in this 
he was, as in other enterprises, so much thwarted by 
the new viceroy, that, disgusted at the interference, he 
took with him his eldest son and heir, and embarked 
for Spain, where he hoped to get his wrongs redressed 
and his disbursements for the service of the crown re- 
paid. The emperor, however, was absent, and a year 
passed without his obtaining raore than a polite hear- 
ing from the council of the Indies. 

When Charles returned, he headed an expedition 
against Algiers. Cortes accompanied him; and when, 
after a long and desperate struggle, it was proposed at 
a council of war to abandon the siege, he indignantly 
offered to take the place himself if the soldiers would 
support him. " Would," he added, " I had by my side 
but a handful of the veterans who fought at Mexico." 
This was indeed characteristic of a man who, Prescott 
justly observes, "when he had once planted his foot, 
was never known to raise it again till he had accom- 
plished his object." But his offer was decided as too 
romantic, and the army returned to Spain, where the 
hero remained three more years, dancing attendance 
upon a monarch who, in the magnificent results of the 
conquest of Peru, had already forgotten the conqueror 
of Mexico. Upon one occasion, after repeated refusals 
to grant him an audience, Cortes fought his way 
through the crowd to the steps of the emperor's 



298 SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF CORTES. 

carnage. "With magnificent audacity, Charles de- 
manded "who he ivas."" "One/' replied Cortes, "who 
lias given you more provinces than your ancestors left 
you towns." 

It was a bold answer; but it lost him all chance of 
having his case investigated. Por the future he remained 
in obscurity, till, worn out by fatigue and disappoint- 
ment, he expired at Seville on the 2d of December, 
1547, at the age of sixty-seven. His estates and titles 
ultimately passed by marriage to the Dukes of Monte- 
leone, who held the latter until the Mexicans threw 
off the rule of Spain. 

The remains of this extraordinary man were first 
interred in the family vault of the Dukes of Medina 
Sidonia. In the year 15G2 they were removed to 
the monastery of Tezcuco, and placed by the side 
of his mother and daughter. In 1629 they were 
again removed; and on the death of the fourth mar- 
quis, they were transferred with great pomp to the 
Church of San Francisco in Mexico. Again, in 1794, 
they were removed to the Hospital of Jesus of Nazareth, 
in the same city. This time they were placed in a 
crystal coffin, secured by bars and plates of silver; over 
them was raised a monument, displaying the arms of 
the family, and a bronze bust of tlie conqueror. Lastly, 
in 1823 the patriot mob, in their zeal to exhibit their 
hatred of the old Spaniards, and worthily to commemo- 
rate their independence, determined to break open the 
coffin and scatter the ashes of the hero to the winds. 
Let us hope that there is truth in the story that, by 
the help of the authorities, the friends of the family 
prevented the sacrilege, by entering the vault at night 



END OF THE STOKY OF CORTES. 299 

and removing tlie relics; for surely it is sufficient dis- 
grace to the vast population of the New World that 
Humboldt could write, "We may traverse Spanish 
America from Buenos Ayres to Monterey, and in no 
quarter shall we meet with a national monument which 
the public gTatitude has raised to Christopher Colum- 
bus or Herna.ndo Cortes." 



I 



THE STOEY 



THE PIZAEEOS 



THE CONQUEST OF PEEU. 



CHAPTER I. 



PIZARRO AND HIS PARTNERS. 

As an exemplar of the power of indomitable persever- 
ance, the name of Francisco Pizarro stands second to 
none upon the long roll of conquerors. Without interest, 
birth, wealth, the commonest rudiments of education, 
or those manners which an old school proverb tells us 
commonly make a man's fortune, he ascended from 
the lowest to the highest round of the fickle goddess's 
ladder. 

The city of Truxillo, in Estremadura, claims the 
honour of his birth, which took place about the year 
1471. He Avas the illegitimate son of a Colonel Gon- 
zalo Pizarro and Francisca Gonzales. It is reported 
that, deserted by his parents, and left at the door of one 
of the churches in the city, he would have perished, 
had he not received from a sow the same kind of nurs- 
ing that Pomulus is said to have obtained from a she- 
wolf That this story is not entirely fabulous seems 
certain from the fact, that to his dying hour he could 
neither read nor write; and that up to his twenty- 

X 



304 PIZAERO AND HIS PARTNERS. 

second year, about tlie time when tlie discoveries of 
Columbus and tlie riclies of tlie New World were 
ringing throughout the length and breadth of the land, 
he was earning his daily bread in the humble capacity 
of a swineherd. The exact period when Pizarro sailed 
for the colonies is not known. It is, however, probable 
that one who had so few reasons to remain at home, 
and so many chances of improving his condition by a 
life of adventure, should have been among the earliest 
to leave Sj)ain for the New World. 

The first we hear of Pizarro in the history of Spanish 
maritime adventure is at the Island of Hispaniola or 
St. Domingo, in 1520, as taking part in the expedition 
to Uraba, under the mad-headed Alonzo de Ojeda; 
that expedition which Cortes was prevented from 
taking part in by a temporary lameness. Even by this 
time Pizarro must have worked his way upwards man- 
fully; for so far did he share the confidence of Ojeda, 
that when that commander returned to Hispaniola for 
provisions for his starving colonists, he left Pizarro in 
charge of the settlement. 

Next we hear of him as an officer under "Vasco 
Nunez de Balboa, the Governor of Darien. He was 
with that commander when the cacique's son rebuked 
the Spaniards''^ for quarrelling about their shares of the 
gold, and told them that beyond the mountains, to the 
south, there was a country where that metal was as 
plentiful and common among the people as iron among 
the inhabitants of Spain. This first intimation of the 
existence of Peru, as we shall hereafter see, was not 
* See page 40. 



A NOTABLE INCIDENT. 305 

lost upon PizaiTO. Again he was witli Balboa at the 
discovery of the Pacific Ocean, and was the second 
European who descended to its shores. 

The experience which Pizarro had gained of the 
great southern ocean under Balboa induced the gover- 
nor, Pedrarias, to give him a command in an expedition 
which he sent under his relation, Morales, to explore 
the Pearl Islands in 1515. It was then that the 
Spaniards met with the warlike caciqwe, Biru, from 
whom the name Peru is said to have been derived, 
and that Pizarro was enabled to practise himself in 
those cruelties for which his name is synonymous. 
The Indians were hunted down by fierce blood-hounds ; 
nay, after the massacre of some 700 natives, their 
chiefs were placed in chains and thrown to the dogs 
to be torn to pieces. Upon another occasion, during a 
retreat, the Spaniards, to arrest the progress of the 
pursuing Indians, murdered their native prisoners, 
hoping thereby that their friends would stop to lament 
over them. The result of this cruel expedition was the 
loss of many of their number and the plunder of some 
valuable pearls, one of which was so large and pure 
that the governor, Pedrarias, presented it to the em- 
press. Daring this expedition the following notable 
incident occurred: — 

A certain cacique, finding resistance in vain, brought 
as a peace offering a basket filled with pearls of great 
size and beauty, for which he considered himself suffi- 
ciently repaid by a present of hatchet-heads and 
hawks' bells. The Spaniards, gloating over their 
bargain, smiled at his joy. Observing this, the chief 
very sensibly said, — " These things I can turn to use- 



306 PIZARRO AND HIS PARTNERS. 

fill purposes, but of what value are those pearls to 
me?" 

The next event of importance in the life of Pizarro 
was his arrest of Balboa, by the order of Pedrarias. In 
the readiness with which his old companion and lieu- 
tenant had passed from his service to that of his jealous 
enemy, Pedrarias, Balboa must have read the time-serv- 
ing character of Pizarro ; for, as at the head of a party of 
soldiers he came to arrest him, he said, bitterly, — "What 
is this, Francisco Pizarro 1 You were not wont to come 
out in this fashion to meet me." 

With patient, never-swerving perseverance, over a 
period of nearly thirty years, did Pizarro pursue a 
career of toil, danger, and suffering. During this time 
his character stands high as a colonist and soldier; never 
rebellious or contentious, but laborious, most enduring, 
faithful, and obedient to his superiors. Truly this 
should be a lesson to those impatient for success and 
prosperity; for, at the age of fifty, excepting a reputa- 
tion among the second or third-rate soldiers of the 
conquest of the New World, he found himself at Pa- 
nama (the then seat of Pedrarias' government) in pos- 
session of nothing but a tract of unhealthy land and a 
small repartimiento of Indians — the sole reward for his 
long and many military services ; and with this modest 
status the old soldier would, in all probability, have 
rested content, but for circumstances I am about to 
relate. 

After the execution of his rival, Balboa, Pedrarias 
removed the seat of his government to Panama, from 
whence he sent several expeditions, with orders to pur- 
sue a northern, or rather westerly, direction, in search 



ATTEMPTS TO DISCOVER PERU. S07 

of that imaginarv strait which, all the Spanish ad- 
venturers believed would lead them to the seas of 
China and Japan. The only advantage^ however, of 
importance gained by these expeditions, was the com- 
pletion of the survey of the whole continent. Ever 
toiling and fighting their way in a westerly direction, 
they opened up Yeragua, Costa Rica, jSTicaragua, and 
ultimately came into collision with the conquerors of 
Mexico, who, descending the great plateau, had settled 
at Honduras. But at length Pedrarias., who was always 
dreaming of that mysterious kingdom of gold which 
report stated to exist to the south, sent, in 1522, an 
armada in that direction, under the command of 
Pascual de Andagoya. Ill health compelled that 
captain to return to Panama without making any 
important discovery ; still, such corroborative accounts 
did he bring back of the existence of this Eldorado^ 
that Pedrarias authorized the fitting out of another 
armament, giving the command to one Juan Basurto, 
a man to whom he was under pecuniary obligations, 
and who was sufiiciently rich to bear a great proportion 
of the expense. Basurto, however, dying suddenly, the 
governor was at his wits' end for a person both capable 
and willing to "undertake such an expedition; for 
although the mysterious land of gold curtained by the 
Cordilleras was the all-absorbing topic of conversation 
among the colonists, so great had been the hardships and 
difficulties of those who had ventured into the southern 
ocean, that the most daring hesitated to come forward. 
During the siege of Sebastopol it was a standing 
joke against the allies, that a body of merchants would, 
for a given sum, undertake its reduction in a much 



308 PIZARRO AND HIS PARTNERS. 

shorter time; so, in 1523, tliree colonists at Panama 
made a similar offer to discover and conquer the 
unknown land of gold. These were Francisco 
Pizzaro, Diego de Almagro, a soldier of fortune, 
and Hernando de Luque, a Spanish priest and school- 
master. The life of Almagro had been similar to that 
of Pizarro. The son of a labouring man, he had in his 
youth taken service with a licentiate at the court of 
Ferdinand and Isabella; but having stabbed a com- 
panion in a quarrel, to escape justice he joined one of 
the earlier expeditions to the New World, where he 
served for many years as a soldier. The land and 
repartimiento of Indians apportioned to him joined the 
estate of Pizarro, and the two retired soldiers, having 
been old comrades, worked their properties together 
for their mutual benefit, and, in the course of time, 
their friendship became so strong, and their interests 
so associated, that a Spanish writer, who knew them 
both, says, " They were as two persons with one mind." 
The owner of another but much larger tract near the 
lands of the two soldiers, was Hernando de Luque, a 
great favourite of the governor. He joined in the 
partnership ; and so well did they manage their joint 
estates, that at the time Pedrarias was looking out for 
a leader for his proposed expedition, they had realized 
by the sale of cattle 18,000 pesos of gold.'"' The 
shares, however, were not by any means equal, for the 
priest was by far the richest and Pizarro the poorest 
of that remarkable trio who applied for and obtained 
permission from Pedrarias to explore and subjugate the 
empire of Peru. 

* A peso of gold was equal to 4s, 8Jd. 



pizaheo sails from panama. 309 

Of these three adventurers, the youngest of whom 
had passed his fiftieth year, Pizarro was to undertake 
the discovery and conquest, Almagro was to go and 
come with arms, men, and provisions^ between Peru 
and Panama, while the priest was to remain in the 
colony, to look after their joint interests, and to find 
money. The latter he did by means of a licentiate 
named Espinosa, who became a sleeping partner in this 
memorable firm. The share of Pedrarias was to be 
one-fourth of the profits. 

A ship was speedily purchased, and got ready for sea 
by Almagro. To enlist soldiers and sailors, however, 
was not so easy ; for as the old colonists, except a few 
of the most idle and reckless, would not join, the 
partners were obliged to wait for new arrivals from 
Spain, — men, in fact, who, not having heard of the 
difficulties and dangers of the proposed expedition, 
would the more readily take the bait of a golden 
fortune held out to them. As they came they were 
persuaded to enlist, and were provided with food and 
lodging until a sufficient number had, as it were, been 
raised up. 

At length eighty men and four horses having been 
gradually collected and shipped, the three partners, to 
make their contract more binding, heard mass together 
and partook of the sacrament. Pizarro then set sail 
from the port of Panama about the middle of Novem- 
ber, 1524. Of course, as in all other expeditions, the 
King of Spain was to have one-fifth of the plunder 
taken from the " heathen ;" and to see that his majesty 
was not cheated, a treasurer and an inspector were 
placed on board by the governor. Thus, with less 



310 PIZARRO AND HIS PARTNERS. 

than one hundred men, did Pizarro set forth to conquer 
an empire, leaving Almagro to follow from time to 
time in a smaller ship with reinforcements. 

It was unfortunate for the adventurers that, in 
ignorance of the nature of the South Sea, Pizarro 
should have chosen the very worst time of the year. 
It was the rainy season, when the contrary winds 
render the navigation of the South doubly dangerous. 
But, once afloat, Francisco Pizarro was not the man to 
look behind. The achievements of his distant kins- 
man, Cortes,* filled his brain with a desire of emula- 
tion. The (to him) certain information he had received 
of the existence of a country teeming with gold weighed 
heavily upon his greedy, avaricious soul; so, like the 
conqueror of Mexico, he knew no mean between on- 
wards or death. 

Doubling the Puerto de Piiias — " Port of Pines," 
Pizarro reached the river Birii. About two leagues up 
this stream they landed, and proceeded into the interior, 
leaving only sufficient to take charge of the ship. This 
expedition was disheartening in the extreme, for the 
country was so swampy and entangled with brush- 
wood, so intense the heat of the sun and rocky the 
ground, that the whole party were speedily compelled 
to retrace their steps. Many, indeed, were obliged to 
be carried by their companions ; for, with feet cut to the 
bone, and famishing for want of food, they sunk to the 
ground from sheer exhaustion. Keeping their course 
along the coast, they reached Puerto de la Hambre — 
" the Port of Hunger." Here, having taken in wood 

* It is said that the mother of Cortes was a Pizzaro, and related to 
the father of Francisco. 



THE PORT OF HUNGER. 311 

and water — nonglit else was to be obtained — Pizarro 
next steered more towards the open sea^ still keeping 
to tlie south ; bnt after being tossed about bj pitiless 
tempests for nearly ten days, without making any head- 
way, and, moreover, finding themselves short of pro- 
visions, they returned to the low swampy shores of 
Puerto de la Hambre. By this change from sea to 
land their condition was scarcely bettered; for the 
forests were dense, the atmosjDhere hot and humid, the 
land one vast swamp, and neither bird nor animal to 
be found upon which they could recruit their famished 
strength. The country seemed deserted by every living- 
thing, and the forlorn adventurers doomed to death by 
the slow and tenable process of starvation; for soon 
they had nought wherewith to sustain life but the 
dried hide of a cow and the bitter palm buds of the 
forest. Is it to be wondered, then, that in such straits 
the men should have forgotten their dreams of wealth, 
and clamoured against the commander, charging him 
with being the author of their miseries'? 

" You have deluded us," they cried, " with promises 
of a fairy land, which the farther we advance the 
farther it recedes. It is of no use contending against 
fate. Let us, starving as we are, endeavour to return 
to Panama. Far better take that poor chance of sav- 
ing our lives than to wait here and die of hunger." 

Pizzaro, however, was not to be dismayed by grum- 
blers. He had passed through greater hardships under 
the chivalrous but mad-headed Ojeda; for, brave as he 
was, he dreaded the ridicule of the colonists of Panama; 
therefore he used every argument his mortified pride 
could suggest to rally the spirits of his followers, re- 



312 PIZARRO AND HIS PARTNERS. 

minding them that great obstacles necessarily lay in 
the way of all discoverers. "There is every motive 
that we should patiently overcome all ditficulties," said 
he. " The existence of these regions of gold is un- 
doubted, and remember it was only by gallant perse- 
verance and great toil that the hero Cortes and his 
soldiers reaped the conquest and riches of Mexico. 
True," he added, "our exigencies are great; we are 
starving, but provisions may be obtained from the Isle 
of Pearls ;" and thus, soothing the men, he despatched 
Montenegro, one of his officers, with the ship and one- 
half the company, back to that island. 

As the Isle of Pearls was not far distant, Pizarro 
did not anticipate that Montenegro' would be absent 
more than a few days; but week after week passed 
without bringing any signs of his return. During this 
time the sufferiugs of the poor fellows were terrible, 
their only means of nourishment being such shell-fish 
as they could from time to time pick up on the shore, 
or berries so poisonous that the bodies of those who ate 
them swelled and suffered from racking pains. Others, 
preferring famine to such diet, died of starvation. Yet, 
amidst this misery, there was one wiio bore all heroi- 
cally, whose spirits never flagged, and who watched and 
attended his sick or dying companions with the affec- 
tionate attention of a parent. It was Pizzaro himself, 
who, by such conduct, obtained an ascendancy over 
the rough natives which the assertion of authority at 
that fearful time could never have secured him. With 
what anxiety did those famishing men strain their eyes 
across the waste of waters, watching every speck, in the 
hope that it might be Montenegro's vessel. But no ; 



SUFFERINGS OF THE SPANIAEDS. 313 

day after day, week after week passed, and the miserable 
beings, now believing tliey had been quite abandoned 
by their countrymen, resigned themselves to hopeless 
despair. So matters grew worse and worse till more 
than twenty had died. Then one man who had strayed 
from the rest brought news that he had seen a light 
gleaming through an opening in the woods. The 
intelligence was received with frantic joy, for it be- 
tokened the neiglibourhood of some settlement, — at 
least so thought Pizarro, who, taking with him the 
least exhausted of his men, went forth to reconnoitre 
in the direction of the opening. 

Hewing their way through a dense wilderness of 
underbrush and foliage, they suddenly came upon 
an open space, upon which was an Indian village. 
Astounded at the sudden appearance of the white and 
bearded strangers, the natives quitted their huts in 
alarm; and the starving Spaniards, rushing in, seized 
upon their food, maize, and cocoa nuts. When the 
inhabitants saw that no violence was intended to them, 
they drew nearer, putting the very pertinent ques- 
tion, " Why they did not stay at home, and sow and 
reap for themselves, instead of coming there to rob 
others who had never harmed them ?" 

While his men were satisfying their fierce appetites, 
and seizing provisions to take back to their sick com- 
rades, Pizarro had the satisfaction of eliciting from the 
Indians that the reports he had so often heard of a 
rich country lying to the south were true. He also dip- 
covered two other matters of importance, — one, that 
the ornaments he saw upon the persons of the natives 
were of pure gold; the other, that the points of their 



314 PIZAREO AND H'^S PARTNERS. 

arrows were so poisoned tliat a man only scratched by- 
one of them must die in four hours. 

Upon again reaching the coast, Pizarro found Mon- 
tenegro had returned with a supply of provisions. 
The cause of that oj6S.cer's long absence of six weeks 
had been incessant head winds, bad weather, and the 
sufferings of his crew, which had been almost as bad 
as those of their comrades on land. With the supply 
of food came renewed health and fresh vigour; so the 
whole party re-embarked, and having named the place 
the " Port of Hunger," by way of a memorial of their 
sufferings, Pizarro steered along the coast, stopping to 
examine every little headland, for fear that some fruit- 
ful region or precious mine should be overlooked, until 
they came to a favourable point for landing. This, as 
it was Candlemas day, he named *' Puerto de la Can- 
delaria." Having disembarked, they found the place 
but little better than the one they had quitted, for the 
climate was so damp that their wide flapped hats fell 
in pieces, and the quilted cotton vests which they wore 
over their armour soon became rotten. Still, they 
were rewarded for their trouble; for after a short 
march they came to an Indian village. As before, 
the natives fled upon their approach, leaving behind a 
good store of maize and other food, and, what was then 
of equal value in their greedy, avaricious eyes, a quantity 
of golden ornaments. But a less agreeable sight met 
their view in some human hands, feet, and legs roast- 
ing, or in vessels over fires. This spectacle neutralized 
their pleasure at the sight of the gold; for believing 
they had fallen in with caribs, or cannibals, they 
speedily retreated to their ship; and, although a tre- 



SLAUGHTER OF INDIANS. 315 

mendous storm was raging, put out to sea at any risk, 
rather than remain in the neighbourhood of such 
abominations. 

Again keeping along the coast, they next landed 
at a projecting point, which Pizarro named " Punta 
Quemada." About a league in the interior they were 
delighted at finding a rather large town. This was 
built upon an eminence ; but, as usual, the inhabitants 
fled at their approach, leaving behind a large store 
of provisions and some gold. As the vessel leaked, 
Pizarro determined that one party should take her 
back to Panama to be careened, while he and the 
other retained possession of the place as a station. 
First, however, Pizarro sent Montenegro at the head 
of a detachment to seize some of the fugitive Indians. 
But the latter, who had only quitted their town in 
order to place their wives and children in some place 
of safety, had cautiously watched their proceedings; 
and no sooner did they see Montenegro and his men 
coming through a defile of the Cordilleras, than, start- 
ing from their ambush, they let fly such a shower of 
arrows and other missiles that the astonished Spaniards 
were thrown into disorder, three of them killed, and 
several badly wounded. A few minutes served to 
rally the enraged soldiers; and, falling upon the scream- 
ing Indians, whose naked painted bodies offered but a 
poor resistance to their swords and cross-bow bolts, 
committed great slaughter. Thus defeated, the natives 
fled into the mountains ; but, taking advantage of their 
superior knowledge of the country, they appeared before 
Pizarro's quarters long before Montenegro, who had 
taken a much longer route, could rejoin his superior. 



316 PIZARRO AND HIS PARTNERS. 

Pizarro, however, who was too old and practised a 
soldier to be taken by surprise, sallied out to meet the 
enemy. For a moment the latter retreated ; but soon 
returning to the charge, with desperate ferocity they 
singled out the Spanish chief, and sent forth such a 
storm of missiles, that in spite of his armour he was 
wounded in seven or eight places, and fell into a steep 
ravine. The savages now gave a yell of delight, and 
fell upon the fallen chief to despatch him ; but Pizarro, 
wounded as he was, sprang to his feet, and striking 
down two of the foremost, held the others at bay till 
his men came to the rescue. The natives, it is said, 
astonished at the valour of their enemies, began to 
falter, when Montenegro and his party attacking their 
rear, they abandoned the field, and made tJie best of 
their way to the mountain fastnesses. 

After this victory — a costly one to the Spaniards, for 
two more men were slain and several badly wounded — 
a council of war was held, at which it was resolved, 
that as enough had been done to prove the importance 
of the enterprise, and to enlist the aid of Pedrarius, 
they should now return to Panama. Although this 
course was counselled by the majority, Pizarro's spirit 
could not brook appearing before the governor in the 
present state of afiairs. A kind of compromise was 
therefore effected. The ship returned in the direc- 
tion of Panama, but Pizarro and the greater number 
disembarked at Chicama, in Terra Pinna, while the 
treasurer, Nicholas de Pivera, went on to present the 
gold, and give an account of the whole of their pro- 
ceedings, to the governor. 



SI 7 



CHAPTEH II. 



PRELIMINARY EXPEDITIONS. 



Three montlis after the departure of Pizarro from 
Panama, Almagro sailed from that port in search of 
his partner. He steered in the same course, diligently- 
examining every point of the coast; hut for a long 
time he could find no other clue than the notches on 
the trees at places where the first party had been — 
a signal arranged between the commanders. Almagro 
also touched at Puerto de Pin as, Puerto de la Hambre, 
and Pueblo Quemado. At the latter place, where the 
battle had been fought between Pizarro and the Indians, 
the natives received him with such warlike demonstra- 
tions that he determined to take the town. But so 
bravely did they defend themselves that the Spaniards 
were beaten back, and Almagro himself would have 
been slain, or made prisoner, but for the gallantry of a 
negro slave who came to his rescue; and although 
they ultimately succeeded in the capture, Almagro was 
so badly wounded (in one eye) that his men found it 
necessary to carry him back to the ship. 

Pursuing his voyaga, he reached the Rio de San 
Juan. The country around was beautiful, cultivated, 
and apparently inhabited; but being anxious about 
the fate of his partner, whom he now feared had 



318 PRELIMINARY EXPEDITION'S. 

foundered at sea, lie determined to return to Panama. 
Touching at tlie Isle of Pearls, he learned, however, 
that the treasurer, Pivera, had called there, leaving 
word that Pizarro was at Chicama. Delighted at this 
news, Almagro at once set sail; and the two friends 
again met to recount k) each other their hardships and 
misfortunes. Almagro had collected (plundered should 
be the word) a larger amount of gold from the natives 
than his comrade ; moreover, at every stej) he had be- 
come more than ever confirmed in the belief of a golden 
empire, which was to be had for the looking for. The 
result of this conference was a mutual determination 
to die rather than abandon the enterprise. But no- 
thing could be done without fresh levies, which could 
only be obtained through Pedrarius. It was therefore 
arranged that Pizarro and his party should remain at 
that pestilential spot (the place so swarmed with mos- 
quitoes, that, to avoid them, the men w;ere frequently 
compelled to bury themselves up to their necks in the 
earth), while Almagro should proceed to Panama, and 
by means of their partner, De Luque, procure the 
assistance of the governor. 

AlmagTO arrived at Panama in an unfortunate hour. 
The governor, irritated by the rebellion of one of his 
ca23tains, to chastise whom he was just then setting out, 
received him coldly, laughed incredulously at the old 
soldier's belief in the existence of the Eldorado, and posi- 
tively declined to countenance the rash schemes of the 
two adventurers any longer. Moroever, he demanded 
an account of the lives of the men whom he declared 
had been sacrificed to Pizarro's obstinacy; so the con- 
quest of Peru would have been indefinitely postponed, 



THE FAMOUS COMPACT. 319 

but for tlie interposition of De Luque, whose influence 
over the mind of Pedrarius was so great that, by dint 
of much argument and persuasion, the governor was at 
length induced to give a reluctant consent ; but at the 
same time gave proof of his displeasure at Pizarro by 
appointing Almagro his equal in command. This ap- 
pointment was mortifying in the extreme to Pizarro? 
who suspected his comrade of having himself solicited 
it from the governor. The consequence was a tem- 
porary coolness between them, which subsided, at least 
in outward show, only on Pizarro's reflecting that it 
was better to have this authority conferred on a friend 
than on a stranger, perhaps an enemy. But the seeds, 
of permanent distrust were left in his bosom, ultimately 
to fructify into discord and bloodshed. 

It will be remembered that Pedrarius had first stipu- 
lated for a fourth share of all the profits. Now, how- 
ever, in the spirit of a petty trader, he demanded to be 
secured at once the sum of 1,000 pesos de oro, in 
requital of his good-will. The j)artners, having full 
faith in their undertaking, were only too glad to get 
rid of one who might some day claim a lion's share; 
they therefore readily agreed, and thus for so con- 
temptible a sum did the governor part with a large 
proportion of the rich spoil of the empire of thelnca. 

Pizarro being informed of the governor's concession, 
passed over to Panama, and joined in that famous com- 
pact which, "after invoking in the most solemn manner 
the names of the Holy Trinity, and Our Lady the 
Blessed Virgin, sets forth, that whereas the parties 
have full authority to discover and subdue the coun- 
tries and provinces lying south of the gulf, belonging 



320 PRELIMINARY EXPEDITIONS. 

to the empire of Peru ; and as Fernando de Lnqne had 
advanced the funds for the enterprise, in bars of gold 
of the value of 20,000 pesos, they mutually bind them- 
selves to divide equally among them the whole of the 
conquered territory. This stipulation is reiterated over 
and over again, particularly with reference to Luque, 
who, it is declared, is to be entitled to one-third of all 
lands, repartiinientos, treasures of every kind, gold, silver, 
and precious stones; to one- third even of all vassals, 
rents, and emoluments arising from such grants as may 
be conferred by the crown on either of his military 
associates, to be held for his own use or for that of his 
heirs, assigns, or legal representatives. 

" The two captains solemnly engage to devote them- 
selves exclusively to the present undertaking until it is 
accomplished; and, in case of failure in their part of the 
covenant, they pledge themselves to reimburse Luque 
for his advances, for which all the property they possess 
shall" be held responsible, and this declaration is to be 
a sufficient warrant for the execution of judgment 
against them, in the same manner as if it had proceeded 
from a decree of a court of justice. 

"The commanders, Pizarro and Almagro, made oath 
in the name of God and the Holy Evangelists, sacredly 
to keep this covenant, swearing it on the Missal, on 
which they traced with their own hands the sacred 
emblem of the cross. To give still greater efficacy to 
the compact. Father Luque administered the sacrament 
to the parties, dividing the consecrated wafer into three 
portions, of which each one of them partook; while the 
bystanders, says an historian, were affected to tears by 
this spectacle of the solemn ceremonial with which these 



SECOND EXPEDITION. 321 

men voluntarily devoted themselves to a sacrifice tliat 
seemed little short of insanity." 

Thus coolly did two poor soldiers, neither of whom 
could read or write, and an obscure colonial priest, 
carve out and portion among themselves an empire, of 
whose extent, power, and resources, they were igno- 
rant, and even the existence of which they possessed 
no exact knowledge, and, " in the name of the Prince 
of Peace," says Dr. Robertson, " they ratified a 
contract of which plunder and bloodshed were the 
objects." 

These preliminaries being settled, a proclamation was 
made throughout Panama of an expedition to Peru, 
The results, however, of the voyages of the two captains 
offered but little inducement for people to embark in so 
desperate an undertaking ; still there were sufficient of 
reckless, ragged fortune-hunters in the colony to get 
together about 150. 

With these, a few horses, a very good sup2)ly of 
military stores and ammunition in two ships, the 
captains sailed from Panama, under the guidance of 
Bartholomew Ruiz, a pilot of great experience in the 
navigation of the South Sea. Steering at once for the 
Rio de San Juan, the farthermost limit reached by 
Almagro, both parties landed, succeeded in taking a 
town, and carrying off a considerable quantity of golden 
ornaments and a few Indians. Feeling confident, on 
the news of so speedy a success, that adventurers would 
flock to their standard, it was arranged that Almagro 
should return to the colony and display his golden 
bait ; that Ruiz, the pilot, should proceed on a voyage 
of discovery along the coast; while Pizarro was to 



322 PRELIMINARY EXPEDITIONS. 

remain in tlie neighbourhood of the river, and en- 
deavour to find comfortable quarters for his men. 

Kuiz was the most fortunate of the three. Sailing 
along the coast, he discovered the Isle of Gallo, the Bay 
of San Mathew, and Coaque. As he advanced, the coun- 
try seemed more densely populated, the shores were lined 
with spectators, who stood gazing at the ship, fancying 
it to be some mysterious being descended from the 
skies. Continuing his course in a south-westerly direc- 
tion, he was astonished at seeing a vessel which seemed 
like a caraval of considerable size, and had a lateen 
sail. Kuiz was much perplexed, for he knew that no 
European bark could have been before him in those 
latitudes, and no Indian nation yet discovered was 
acquainted with the use of sails. On approaching 
nearer he saw that it was a large vessel, or rather raft, 
called by the natives halsa, consisting of a number of 
huge timbers of a light, porous wood, tightly lashed 
together, with a flooring of reeds raised on them by 
way of deck. Two masts erected in the middle sus- 
tained a large square sail of cotton, while a rude 
kind of rudder, and a moveable keel made of planks, 
inserted between the logs, enabled the mariner to 
direct the floating f:ibric without the use of oar or 
paddle. Coming alongside, Ruiz found several Indians, 
men and women, on board, and still more to his satis- 
faction, that it was laden with pottery, woollen cloths 
of exquisite workmanship, silver and gold, which the 
crew were carrying to difierent parts of the coast for 
purposes of trade. There was also a pair of balances 
to weigh the precious metals, besides other matters 
which betokened the craft to belong to a people in a 



FIRST NEWS OF THE INCA EMPIRE. 323 

high state of civilization. This was indeed a fore- 
shadowing of the Eldorado at hand. In reply to the 
Spaniards, the Indian crew said they belonged to a 
Peruvian port named Tumbez, a few degrees to the 
south, and that in the neighbourhood of this town were 
fields covered with large flocks of the animals* from 
which some rare and beautiful wool they had on board 
was obtained; that their sovereign was a great king, 
whose name was Huyana Capac, and that in his palace 
at the capital, Cuzco, gold and silver was almost as 
common as wood. 

This was glorious news to the greedy Spaniards; but 
deeming it almost too wonderful to be true, Ruiz took 
on board his own ship several of the Indians, that they 
might repeat the tale to his commander; then permitting 
the Indian vessel to proceed on its voyage, he with all 
speed made his way back to his countrymen at the Hio 
de San Juan. During the absence of Ruiz, Pizarro and 
his men had spent a very sorry time; for, endeavouring 
to pass into the interior, they had encountered miseries 
that those alone can comj)rehend who have had to force 
their path through dense woods, across great hills, in 
deep ravines filled with rank grass and brushwood, in 
a pestilential climate, amidst myriads of stinging in- 
sects and loathsome reptiles. The men fell sick, some 
being destroyed by boas, others devoured by alligators. 
To add to their misfortunes, fourteen of the party, 
while crossing a branch of the river in one canoe, were 
slain by the natives. To such a pass had they come, 
that avarice and ambition had vanished from their 
breasts, and one and all — their chief excepted — prayed 
* Llamas, or Peruvian sheep. 



324 PRELIMINARY EXPEDITIONS. 

to return to Panama. It was at this juncture Ruiz 
returned, bringing his wondrous news, the Indians, and, 
what was far better to the poor fellows at that time, a 
plentiful supply of food. Having appeased their appe- 
tites, the so lately half-famished, desponding wretches 
were transformed into a band of heroes, ready to 
re-encounter similar perils, or greater, if it so pleased 
their chief, who, they remembered, had not only shared 
their infinite distress, but had sought, by every possible 
means, to help and impart to them his own unflinching 
courage and never-failing hope. 

Not long after the return of Ruiz, Almagro made his 
appearance with eighty recruits, and a large supply of 
provisions and military stores. The latter had been 
contributed chiefly by Don Pedro de los Rios, who had 
lately been sent out from Spain to supersede Pedrarius 
in the governorship of Panama. 

The captains now re-embarked, and set sail in a 
southerly direction. It was, however, the latter end of 
the year (1526), the very worst season in those seas, 
and the tempests were so frequent and violent, that 
they were compelled to land at the little Island of 
Gallo to refit. That being done they continued their 
course, passing the Bay of San Mathew, till they arrived 
at a town in Quito, a frontier kingdom of the empire 
of Peru, called Tacumez. This place consisted of 2,000 
houses, and the inhabitants, men, women, and even 
children, were decorated with golden ornaments and 
precious stones. This sight made the eyes of the free- 
booters glisten with pleasure. Still more pleasing to 
their ears was the news that the adjacent country was 
rich with gold, and that near at hand was the since 



A COUNCIL OF WAR. 325 

far-famed river of emeralds, from which the Indian 
sovereigns filled their treasury. It is easy to imagine 
the delight of the Spaniards at the prospect of readily 
gaining such rich plunder. They were, however, 
doomed to be disappointed; for the people, a warlike 
race, guessing the real object of the strangers' visit, 
assembled to the number of 10,000, and exhibited 
every desire to come to an immediate engagement; and 
as this army was drawn up along the shore, to prevent 
Pizarro and those of his men who had landed with 
him from regaining the ships, the career of that captain 
would then and there have terminated, but for a ludi- 
crous chance. 

Like the Mexicans, the Peruvians, at first sight of a 
mounted soldier, mistook him and his steed to be some 
strange monster, one and indivisible; therefore, when 
one of the cavaliers fell from his horse, and the monster 
became thus split into two halves, the simple Indians 
were so astonished, or terrified, that they fell back, 
leaving a path open by means of which the Christians 
regained their ships. 

As it was very evident to all, that it would be impos- 
sible for them to make any way against so formidable 
and warlike an enemy, a council of war was called. 
Some of the least courageous argued that it would 
be better to abandon the enterprise. But this was not 
the opinion of the brave Almagro. 

" To go home with nothing done," said he, " will be 
ruin and disgrace. Scarcely one of us but have left 
creditors, who look for payment from the fruits of this 
expedition. To go home will be to place ourselves in 
their hands — in prison. Better by far to roam the 



326 PRELIMINARY EXPEDITIONS. 

wilderness as freemen, than lie in fetters in Panama. 
The only course/' he concluded, " is the one we have 
lately followed. Pizarro may find some more comfoi-t- 
able place where he can remain with pait of the force, 
while I will go back to Panama for recruits, who will 
now readily flock to our banners, since I can tell them 
of the riches of the land which I have seen with my 
own eyes." 

But Pizarro's experience of a residence in the wilds 
made this advice unpalatable, and he replied, " It is all 
very well for you, who pass your time pleasantly enough 
careering to and fro in your vessel, or snugly sheltered 
in a land of plenty at Panama; but it is quite another 
matter for those who stay behind, to droop and die of 
hunger in the wilderness." 

To this Almagro made an angxy reply; and retort 
upon retort followed, till they had drawn their swords; 
and the lives of one or both would have been sacrificed 
had not Eivera and the pilot Kuiz interposed, and, by 
dint of expostulation, made them become reconciled to 
each other again, and embrace, after which Almagro's 
plan was adopted. When, however, it was known to 
the soldiers that their captains had resolved to continue 
the enterprise, and that Pizarro had chosen Gallo for 
their head-quarters till the return of Almagro with 
reinforcements, their discontent was openly shown, 
"What!" they cried, "are we to be dragged to that 
wretched island to die of hunger? The whole affair 
has been a cheat and a failure from beginning to end. 
The golden countries, so much vaunted, have seemed 
to fly before us as we have advanced. The little gold 
we have been lucky enough to get has all been sent 



DISCONTENT OF THE MEN. 327 

back to Panama, to entice other fools to follow our 
example. The only treasures we have are our bows 
and arrows, and we are to be left to die on this dreary 
island, without so much as a rood of consecrated ground 
to lay our bones in." 

Thus exasperated, many of those who were to remain 
wrote, letters to their friends, complaining of the cold- 
blooded manner in which they were to be sacrificed to 
the obstinate cupidity of their captains. The latter, 
however, hoping to defeat this movement, ordered all 
the letters in the returning ship to be seized, and thus 
all communication between the people on the Isle of 
Gallo and their friends at Panama was cut off. 

It is not difficult to imagine the indignation and 
chagrin of the brave, unscrupulous Almagro, when, on 
his return, explaining to the governor the riclies of 
Peru, and the comparative ease with which it might 
be conquered if he would lend his aid to the enterprise, 
the latter showed him a letter, written by one and 
signed by many of the soldiers left at Gallo, in which 
were painted the sufierings and miseries they were en- 
during, accusing the two commanders of being the 
cause, and begging the governor to send a ship in time 
to take them from that wretched spot. By way of 
postscript, there was a stanza which ran— ~ 

" Look out, Senor Governor, 

For the drover while he's near; 

Since he goes home to get the sheep 

For the butcher who stays here. 

This letter, which so entirely checkmated the two 

captains, had been ingeniously introduced into a cotton 

ball, which was to be presented to the governor's lady 

as a specimen of the products of the country. The 



328 PRELIMINAKY EXPEDITIONS. 

ejffect was to incense tlie governor at the result of the 
expedition, and the waste of life it had caused, and to 
cause him not only to turn a deaf ear to all applica- 
tions of De Luque and Almagro for further assistance, 
but sent a lawyer, named Tafur, to the Isle of Gallo, to 
authorize the return of all under Pizarro's command 
who desired to go back to Panama. It is not sur- 
prising, when this news got abroad, that the little boys 
in the streets, whenever they saw the priest-school- 
master, should run after him, shouting, — " There goes 
Fernando el loco " — Fernando the madman. 



329 



CHAPTER III. 



DISCOVERY OF PERU. 



EiSTDURiNG life — rather than living — upon a barren 
island, amidst incessant storms of thunder and light- 
ning during the rainy season, when the land was 
perpetually flooded, Pizarro and his men narrowly 
watched every speck upon the ocean, with the hope 
that it might prove to be some friendly vessel laden 
with provisions. Their condition was far worse even 
than when in the wild woods they suffered from 
hunger; for when their supply of food had become 
exhausted, their only means of sustaining existence 
was the ci"abs or other shell-fish, and even that was 
scanty, which they could find upon the sea-shore. 

At length, when, after long and weary watching, 
Tafur appeared with two vessels well supplied with 
provisions, they became frantic with delight, and there 
were few indeed among the party" who did not gladly 
embrace the opportunity of leaving the detested spot 
for ever. Not so the indomitable Pizarro. Should he 
return, the fate of the expedition would be sealed for 
ever. To him death, however miserable and lingering, 
was preferable to the ridicule he knew would greet him 
at Panama. Then, again, he received letters from 
Almagro and De Luque, urging him not to abandon 



330 DISCOVERY OF PERU. 

the enterprise, and begging him to strive to the utter- 
most rather than return. 

A pretty story is told, which has long been regarded 
as an historical fact, consequent upon his determina- 
tion to remain. It is, that drawing his sword, and 
tracing a line in the sand, he turned to the south, 
saying :— 

" On that side are toil, hunger, nakedness, the 
drenching storm, desertion, and death; on this side, 
ease ^nd pleasure. There lies Peru with its riches; 
here, Panama and its poverty. Choose, each man, 
what best becomes a brave Castilian. For my part, I 
go to the south." So saying he stepped across the line. 
He was followed by the brave pilot, Puiz; next by 
Pedro de Candia, a cavalier, born, as his name imports, 
in one of the isles of Greece. Eleven others succes- 
sively crossed the line — thus intimating their willing- 
ness to abide the fortunes of their leader for good or 
for evil. Fame, to quote the enthusiastic language of 
an ancient chronicler, has commemorated the names of 
this little band, " who thus, in the face of difficulties 
unexampled in history, with death rather than riches 
for their reward, preferred it all to abandoning their 
honour, and stood firm by their leader as an examjDle 
of loyalty to future "ages." 

"There is something striking to the imagination," 
says Prescott, " in the spectacle of these few brave 
spirits thus consecrating themselves to a daring enter- 
prise, which seemed as far above their strength as any 
recorded in the fabulous annals of knight-errantry. A 
handful of men, without food, without clothing, almost 
without arms, without knowledge of the land to which 



A POPULAR LEGEND DEMOLISHED. 331 

tliey were bound, without vessel to ti^ansport tliera, 
were here left on a lonely rock in the ocean, with the 
avowed purpose of carrying on a crusade against a 
powerful empire, staking their lives on its success. 
What is there in the legends of chivalry that surpasses 
if? This was the crisis of Pizarro's fate. There are 
moments in the lives of men which, as they are seized 
or neglected, decide their future destiny. Had Pizarro 
faltered from his strong purpose, and yielded to the 
occasion now so temptingly presented for extricating 
himself and his broken band from their desperate posi- 
tion, his name would have been buried with his 
fortunes, and the conquest of Peru would have been 
left for other and more successful adventurers. But 
his constancy was equal to the occasion, and his con- 
duct here proved him competent to the perilous post he 
had assumed, and inspired others with a confidence in 
him which was the best assurance of success." 

These reflections of the amiable historian are highly 
instructive. I fear, however, that my young readers 
will feel a little disappointed to find that the true 
version of the incident which called them forth is so 
differently related by the veracious and learned writer, 
Arthur Helps, who thus demolishes this pretty 
melodramatic fabric, — "Pizarro, addressing his men, 
said, ' that those who wished to return should, by all 
means, do so ; but that it grieved him to think that 
they were going to endure greater sufferings and worse 
poverty than they had already endured, and to lose 
that which they had so long toiled for, as he did not 
doubt that they were on the point of discovering 
something which would console and enrich them ali 



332 DISCOVERY OF PERU. 

He then reminded them of what those Indians had 
said whom E-uiz had captured. Finally, he observed 
that it gave him very great satisfaction to reflect that, 
in all they had undergone, he had not excused himself 
from being the principal sufferer, contriving that he 
should rather want than that they should — and so, he 
said, it would always be.' The dire pressure, however, 
of recent suffering, and a hungry desire to see home 
again, were too strong to be overcome by the wise and 
encouraging words of Pizarro. The men accordingly 
begged Tafur to take them away with him imme- 
diately. This lieutenant, however, pitying the straits 
to which Pizarro was reduced, gave him a chance of 
retaining any of his companions who, at the last mo- 
ment, might be unwilling to leave their brave old 
commander. Tafur, therefore, placed himself at one 
end of his vessel, and drawing a line, put Pizarro and 
his men at the other. He then said that those who 
wished to return to Panama should pass over the line 
and come to him, and those who did not wish to return 
should stay where they were by the side of Pizarro. 
Fourteen resolute men, amongst whom was a mulatto, 
stood by the side of their chief, and the rest passed 
over the line to Tafur." 

After the departure of Tafur, with whom went the 
pilot Ruiz, to consult with Almagro and De Luque as 
to the means of sending their partner succour, Pizarro 
and his fourteen companions, fearing that the Indians 
might be induced to attack them, now their numbers 
were so much reduced, went over to an uninhabited 
island named Gorgona. Here, while awaiting the arrival 
of reinforcements from Almagro, their sufferings ex- 



SUFFEEINGS AT GORGONA. 333 

ceeded everything tliey had hitherto passed through; 
but in the midst of all, each morning they gave thanks 
to God. At evening time they read the salve and other 
prayers appointed for different hours. They took heed 
of the feasts of the Church, and kept account of their 
Fridays and Sundays. 

When not engaged in prayer, their chief employ- 
ment was to keep watch on the melancholy ocean, that 
they might hail the first signal of anticipated succour. 
But many a tedious month passed away, and no sign of 
it appeared. All around was the same wide waste of 
waters, except to the eastward, where the frozen crest 
of the Andes, touched with the ardent sun of the 
equator, glowed like a ridge of fire along the whole 
extent of the great continent. Every speck in the dis- 
tant horizon was carefully noticed, and the drifting 
timber or masses of sea-weed, heaving to and fro on the 
bosom of the waters, was converted by their imagina- 
tions into the promised vessel; till, sinking under suc- 
cessive disappointments, hope gradually gave way to 
doubt, and doubt settled into despair. 

At length a speck appeared upon the distant waters. 
" 'Tis a ship with Almagro," joyfully exclaimed some. 
" !N"o, no," replied the more desponding ; " 'tis a piece of 
wood;" and in the agony of hope, desire, expectation, 
thus they talked, till the object really took the form 
of a ship. It proved to be a vessel commanded by the 
pilot Buiz, bearing a supply of provisions and ammuni- 
tion; but the joy of Pizarro was damped, for she con- 
veyed no reinforcements; yet Ruiz brought news that 
the partners in Panama had, by unremitting persever- 
ance, at length prevailed upon the governor to send 



334 DISCOVERY OF PERU. 

a ship. Tliis concession, however, was accompanied by 
a command that the vessel should contain no more 
men than was sufficient to work her, and that Pizarro, 
under pain of heavy penalties, should return and report 
himself at Panama. The gallant chief, therefore, deter- 
mined to lose no time, left two of his sick men under 
the care of some friendly Indians who had come to the 
isle, and at once, with the remainder of his hardy 
followers, set sail for Tumbez, that town to which 
belonged the natives taken out of the Peruvian vessel 
by Ruiz. 

^ After about twenty days' sail along the coast, and in 
sight of the stupendous heights of Chimborazo, the 
Andes, and Cotopaxi, the adventurers landed at Santa 
Clara, an island in the Bay of Tumbez. It was a sacred 
spot, used by the inhabitants of the mainland for pur- 
poses of sacrifices and other religious ceremonies. They 
saw some altars, upon which w^ere placed pieces of gold 
and silver, wrought into the shaj)e of jugs, hands, and 
heads, at which their delight was very great; but the 
more so, when the captured Indians told them these 
riches were nothing compared to that which they could 
jind in the neighbouring city. 

The following morning, as they stood across the bay, 
they fell in with some halsas, manned with armed 
natives, on their way to attack an island named Puna. 
Inviting the chiefs on board his vessel, Pizarro detained 
and took them with him to Tumbez. When they 
anchored, he sent them with a friendly message to the 
curaca, or governor of the town, begging the latter 
would furnish them with refreshments, and also enter 
into a friendly intercourse with him. The Peruvian 



PIZARRO'S EFFRONTERY, 335 

ruler, hearing from his chiefs of the wonderful white 
men with large beards, and their still more extraor- 
dinary ship, also of their kindness to the natives, at once 
sent several balsas laden with provisions, and a number 
of llamas, an animal which the Spaniards then saw for 
the first time. This munificent gift was placed under 
the charge of an Inca noble, whose superb dress, but more 
particularly the enormous golden ornaments hanging 
from his ears, betokened him to be an orejon — that is, 
a member of an order of Peruvian knighthood so illus- 
trious that we may compare it to the English Order of 
the Garter. 

The Inca noble, dining with the Spanish chief, desired 
to know what brought him to that country. With true 
Castilian effrontery and arrogance, PizaiTO answered, — • 
" I am the vassal of the greatest sovereign in the worlds 
whose lawful supremacy over this country I am here to 
declare. Eui-ther, it is my mission to rouse you and 
your fellow-countrymen from the darkness of unbelief 
in which you are all now wandering. The evil spirit 
you now worship will sink your souls into everlasting 
perdition; but / am here to give you knowledge of the 
true and only God, Jesus Christ, in whom to believe is 
eternal salvation." 

Now, this must have sounded as so much jargon in 
the ears of the Inca lord ; but, too polite or discreet to 
enter into a controversy with the Spaniard, he simply 
bowed, praised the wine and strange dishes of which 
he had partaken; after which he withdrew, taking with 
him a few presents from Pizarro, whom, with his com- 
panions, he pressed to land and visit the town. 

The next day Pizarro sent one Alonzo de Molinaj 
z 



336 DISCOVERY OF PERU. 

accompanied by a negro, with a present of swine and 
fowls (neither of which were known in the New World) 
to the curaca. Yery curious was the account he gave 
of his reception on his return to the ship. On landing, 
he was surrounded by natives, who exhibited the wild- 
est astonishment at his attire, fair complexion, and 
long beard; but even greater was the curiosity and 
surprise of the women, who, if he were to be believed, 
all fell in love with him. This he took in such good 
part that the men invited him to remain, and offered 
to find him a beautiful, wife. Their ecstacy, however, 
at the white man was scarcely so great as their wonder- 
ment at the colour of the negro. They could not 
believe that nature had ever painted humanity in such 
a colour, and so they tried hard with their hands to rub 
off the black from his skin. Fortunately, the negro not 
only took all good temperedly, but, exhibiting his rows 
of white teeth, caused them to dance with delight. 

The fowls also came in for their full share of won- 
derment, for, when the cock crew, the natives clapped 
their hands, and, turning to Molina, earnestly asked 
him what the bird was saying. 

More satisfactory, however, than all the foregoing, to 
Pizarro, was Molina's account of the residence of the 
curaca, who lived in great state, surrounded by objects 
of gold, and of a temple which he had seen literally 
blazing with the precious metal. Indeed, so wonderful 
seemed the man's story, and so little did he credit it, 
that the day following Pizarro sent ashore Pedro de 
Candia, a Greek knight. The natives had heard from 
their fellow-townsmen, who had been so long on board 
the Spanish vessel, of the wonderful arquebuse; so, 



DELIGHT OF THE SPANIARDS. 337 

observing that Candia carried such a weapon, their 
curiosity led them to beg of him to *' let it speak to 
them." The knight complied; but, at the flash and 
report, the Indians fell upon their faces awe-stricken, 
till, by his smiling face and kind tones, he assured 
them no harm would happen to them. 

They now almost believed Candia to be a being of a 
superior nature. To convince themselves, they let loose 
a tiger on him. "But," says the Spanish historian 
without the least distrust, " the knight, being a good 
Catholic, gently laid the cross which he wore upon the 
back of the animal, who, instantly forgetting his fero- 
cious nature, crouched at the cavalier's feet, and began 
to play round him in innocent gambols." The Indians, 
now more amazed than ever (well they might be), and 
nothing doubting of the sanctity of their guest, bore him 
in triumph on their shoulders to the temple and about 
the city. 

Upon his return to the ship Candia more than con- 
firmed the description of Molina. The temple, he said, 
was literally tapestried with plates of the precious 
metals; and the garden of one convent he had entered 
even glowed with imitations of fruits and vegetables 
in pure gold and silver. 

Nearly mad with joy at this information of the riches 
of Peru, their knowledge of which was now sufficient 
to satisfy the most incredulous, the Spaniards con- 
tinued their voyage along the coast to Puerto de Santa. 
The people of this place were ruled by a lady, who 
received the strangers with the most munificent hos- 
pitality. Taking leave of their kind hostess, they 
returned to Panama ; en route, however, they called at 



338 DISCOVERY OF PERU. 

Tumbez, at which place several of the sailors, who had 
fallen in love with Peruvian beauties, desired to remain 
and settle. Pizarro readily complied, wisely calculat- 
ing that, by so doing, upon his return he would have 
some among his men acquainted with the language and 
customs of the natives. A similar stroke of policy was 
to take with him two Indian youths, in order to have 
them taught the Castilian tongue. From this most 
memorable voyage Pizarro retui^ned to Panama at the 
latter end of the year 1527, after an absence of 
eighteen months. 

How great must have been the delight of Almagro 
and De Luque as they listened to their partner's story 
of his successful discovery! With what hopes and 
pride the trio must have paraded the streets of Pa- 
nama, now that, in spite of obloquy, derision, and every 
impediment thrown across their path, they had, by 
perseverance, established the truth of that which had 
been so frequently denounced as a chimera. 

Their triumph was indeed great, for the colonists, 
who had long since considered Pizarro and his com- 
panions as the victims of a cruel delusion, were now 
ready, nay, enthusiastic, to enlist their persons and for- 
tunes with the discoverers. To the chagrin and bitter 
disappointment, however, of the partners, the one most 
powerful to make or mar their enterprise still remained 
sceptical,— it was the governor, Pedro de los Rios, 
who, when applied to for patronage in an undertaking 
too vast for their individual means, replied, — " That he 
had no desire to build up other states at the expense of 
his own, nor would he be led to throw away more 
lives than had already been sacrificed by the cheap 



( 



PIZARRO AT THE SPANISH COURT. 339 

display of gold and silver toys and a few Indian 
sheep." 

This answer being final, De Lnqne suggested that 
they should apply for assistance to the crown of Spain. 
At first there was some difficulty as to which of the 
two soldiers should be chosen ambassador. De Lnque 
named Corral, a licentiate, who was just returning to- 
that country; but Almagro objected, saying it should 
be Pizarro. As for himself, he bluntly and honestly 
confessed that his want of education, rough manners, 
ill-favoured appearance, and the loss of one eye, ren- 
dered him no fit object to appear at court. Besides, as 
his comrade had been the chief actor in the late events, 
and was also a man of business, he was the most able 
to tell the story, solicit aid, and look after the interests 
of the co-partnery. De Luque seems to have had a 
deeper insight into the real character of Pizarro; for 
although he did at length consent, it was with reluc- 
tance and a speech that foreshadowed broil and 
bloodshed. "God grant, my children," said he, "that 
one of you may not, as did Jacob from Esau, defraud 
the other of his blessing." 

Matters being thus aiTanged, and 1,500 ducats raised 
to enable him to appear becomingly at court, Pizarro, 
accompanied by Pedro de Candia, quitted Panama for 
Spain, where he arrived early in the summer of 1528. 
No sooner, however, had he set foot in Seville than he 
was arrested and carried to prison by the Bachelor 
Enciso, a man who had had much to do with discovery 
in America, and to whom, it is supposed, Pizarro owed 
money. This was an ominous reception, after an ab- 
sence from his native land of more than twenty years, 



340 DISCOVERY OF PERU. 

passed in toil and suffering. The arrest, however, 
becoming known, created general indignation. The 
court, hearing of his arrival and the purpose of his 
mission, sent orders for his release and an invitation 
for him to proceed to Toledo, at which city the em- 
peror was then staying. 

Charles received the adventurer kindly, and listened 
attentively to his wondrous tale; but when he re- 
counted the horrors and sufferings they had endured 
upon the lonely island, abandoned by the Governor of 
Panama, and deserted by all but a mere handful of 
faithful followers, the monarch was affected even to 
tears. Charles, however, speedily quitting Spain for 
Italy, could do no more than commend the affairs of 
Pizarro to the consideration of the empress and the 
Council of the Indies ; and so tardily was business then 
transacted at the Spanish court, that it was not before 
the 29th of July, 1529, that the empress signed the 
celebrated capitulation or agreement. 

By this document it was stipulated "that Pizarro 
should have the right of discovery and conquest in the 
province of Peru or New Castile, for the distance of 
200 leagues south of Santiago. He was to receive the 
titles and rank of governor and captain-general of the 
province, together with those of Adelantado and Algua- 
cil Mayor, for life; and he was to have a salary of 
725,000 maravedis, with the obligation of maintaining 
certain officers and military retainers, cori-esponding 
with the dignity of his station. He was to have the 
right to erect certain fortresses, with the absolute 
government of them, to assign encomiendas of Indians 
under the limitations prescribed by law, and, in fine, 



THE CAPITULATION. 341 

to exei'cise nearly all tlie prerogatives incident to tlie 
authority of a viceroy. Almagro was declared com- 
mander of tlie fortress of Tumbez, with an annual rent 
of 300,000 maravedis, and with the further rank and 
privileges of an hidalgo. The reverend Father Luque 
received the reward of his services in the bishopric of 
Tumbez, and he was also declared protector of the 
Indians of Peru. He was to enjoy the yearly stipend 
of 1,000 ducats, to be derived, like the other salaries 
and gratuities in this instrument, from the revenues of 
the conquered territory. Nor were the subordinate 
actors in the expedition forgotten. Ruiz received the 
title of Grand Pilot of the Southern Ocean, with a 
liberal provision ; Candia was placed at the head of the 
artillery; and the remaining eleven companions on the 
desolate island were created hidalgos and cavalleros, 
and raised to certain municipal dignities in prospect. 

"Several provisions of a liberal tenor were also made 
to encourage emigration to the country. The new 
settlers were exempted from some of the most onerous 
but customary taxes, as the alcahala, or to be subject to 
them only in a mitigated form. The tax on the pre- 
cious metals drawn from mines was to be reduced, 
at first to one-tenth, instead of the fifth, imposed on the 
same metals when obtained by barter or by rapine. 

"It was expressly enjoined on Pizarro to observe the 
existing regulations for the good government and pro- 
tection of the natives; and he was required to carry 
out with him a specified number of ecclesiastics, with 
whom he was to take counsel in the conquests of the 
country, and whose efibrts were to be dedicated to the 
service and conversion of the Indians; while lawyers 



342 DISCOVERY OF PERU. 

and attorneys, on tlie otlier hand, whose presence was 
considered as boding ill to the harmony of tLe new 
settlements, were strictly prohibited from setting foot 
in them. 

"Pizarro, on his part, was bound, in six months from 
the date of the instrument, to raise a force, well equipped 
for the service, of 250 men, of whom 100 might be 
drawn from the colonies; and the government engaged 
to furnish some trifling assistance in the purchase of 
artillery and military stores. Finally, he was to be 
prepared, in six months after his return to Panama, to 
leave that port and embark on his expedition." 

Thus laden with honour, an undue proportion of 
which he had (as foreseen by De Luque, and as we 
shall hereafter see, greatly to the dissatisfaction of Al- 
magro) unfairly appropriated to himself, Pizarro sought 
his native town, Triixillo, to which place, having de- 
parted a poor outcast, he now returned the most popu- 
lar man in Spain. Success brought him many friends 
and relations, who were ready to take part in his for- 
tunes. Principal among these were his four brothers — 
three, like himself, illegitimate. One, named Fran- 
cisco Martin de Alcantara, being related to him by his 
mother's side; the other two, Gonzalo and Juan Pizarro, 
were descended from the father — " All," says the his- 
torian Oviedo, "poor, and proud as they were poor, 
and their eagerness for gain was in proportion to their 
poverty." The eldest and legitimate brother, who was 
named Hernando, was a man of great ability, but 
jealous, proud, arrogant, and pitiless, 

Notwithstanding the popularity of the great adven- 
turer, and the exertions of his brother, he found great 



I 



CORTES AIDS PIZAREO. 343 

difficnltj in collecting sufficient men and money within 
the appointed time; nay, it is believed that he would 
have signally failed but for the seasonable aid of Cortes? 
the conqueror of Mexico, who chanced to be in Spain 
at that time. Even with that assistance, when the six 
months had passed, his complement of men fell so short 
of the stipulated number, that, to avoid the investiga- 
tion of the king's officers, who were commanded to see 
that his vessels were duly furnished and equipped, he 
gave orders for the captains of his three ships to slip 
their cables and make for the island of Gomera, at 
which place he ordered his brother, Hernando, to meet 
him with the remaining vessels. These were equally 
deficient in men, but as Hernando declared that the 
others had gone forward with Pizarro, he was per- 
mitted to depart. It was in January, 1530, that this 
squadron, with but 125 men, set sail for Panama; but 
calling en route at Nombre de Dios, they were met by 
De Luque and Almagro, who, in their anxiety to learn 
the terms of the capitulation with their sovereign, had 
crc^ssed the mountains. 



3U 



CHAPTER lY. 



FINAL EXPEDITION TO PERU. 

With rage and indignation the hot-headed, but gene- 
rous Almagro heard the terms of the capitulation. 
" Is it thus/' said he, " that you have dealt with the 
friend who shared equally with you in the trials, 
dangers, and cost of the enterprise; and this, notwith- 
standing your solemn engagements on your departure 
to provide as faithfully for his interests as your own ? 
How could you allow me to be thus dishonoured in the 
eyes of the world by so paltry a compensation, which 
seems to estimate my services as nothing in comparison 
with your own ?" Pizarro answered that he had faith- 
fully urged his friend's suit, but the government feared 
to confide powers which intrenched so closely on one 
another to different hands, and therefore he had no 
alternative but to accept the whole. He added, how- 
ever, that it would make little difference to Almagro, 
since all that he had would ever be at the service of his 
friend." Put it required the interference of their 
mutual friends, De Luque and Espinosa, to settle the 
dispute between the captains, who were at length 
brought to terms, Pizarro agreeing to renounce the 
appointment of Adelantado in favour of Almagro, and 
binding himself not to ask any favour from the Spanish 



AN ARTFUL TRICK. 345 

court for himself or Ms brothers until he should have 
obtained for Almagro a separate government, to com- 
mence where the limits of his own ended. 

A peace being thus patched up between the two' 
friends, the squadron went on to Panama, where, hav- 
ing recruited his force to the number of 180 men and 
27 horses, he again set sail, on the 28th of December, 
1/530, on his third and last expedition for the conquest 
of Peru. In thirteen days they reached the Bay of St. 
Mathew. Here he determined to disembark his troops 
and advance along the coast, while the three vessels 
kept at a convenient distance from the shore. At 
every point he found the natives in arms against him. 
Coming to the town of Coaque, he attacked and took 
the place, " lest it should revolt."" Here, besides a con- 
siderable quantity of gold, they found a large number 
of esmeraldas, or emeralds; one which fell to the share 
of Pizarro was as large as a pigeon's egg. The soldiers 
being ignorant of the quality of their rich prize, became 
the victims of an artful trick, played upon them by one 
Father de Pedraza. The priest persuaded them that 
the only way to test the true emerald was by pound- 
ing them with hammers. Every jewel so tested was 
broken to pieces, and then cast aside as worthless glass. 
The priest, who had not subjected his own share to the 
test, gathered them together and took them with liim 
to Panama, where he realized a considerable sum of 
money by their sale. The cunning Spaniard used the 
gold and jewels thus plundered from the natives as 
bait wherewith to catch fresh troops, wisely judging 
that the sight of treasure so speedily and easily 
acquired would tempt the colonists to his standard; he 



346 FINAL EXPEDITION TO PERU. 

therefore despatclied his vessels with the booty to 
Panama. 

During the absence of this party Pizarro made 
several short marches along the coast, but without any 
great result; and amidst sufferings that made the troops 
curse the day they had been tempted by avarice to 
join the expedition, a strange epidemic broke out. 
Men went to rest at night well, to awake (those who 
awoke at all) with their bodies covered with hideous 
ulcers or warts. Several died of this frightful disorder, 
which strangely made its appearance during the inva- 
sion, and did not long survive it. While the plague 
lasted, it spread over the whole country, sparing neither 
native nor white man. " It was," says Prescott, " one 
of those plagues from the vial of wrath which the 
destroying angel, who follows in the path of the con- 
queror, pours out on the devoted nations." 

At length, after seven weary months, the Spaniards 
were gladdened by the return of their vessels with 
fresh supplies, several high officers appointed by the 
crown to look after its interests, twenty-six mounted 
and thirty foot soldiers. With these, and a further 
reinforcement of thirty men, who met him at a place 
called Puerto Viejo, Pizarro advanced along the coast, 
taking forcible possession of villages, and converting the 
natives by the way, till he came to a spot opposite the 
Island of Puna. Compelling the inhabitants of this 
place to convey his forces across the water upon rafts, 
lie encamped upon the island, intending to remain 
there till the end of the rainy season. 

The Spaniards were received by the islanders with 
every sign of joy. It was^ however, only apparent; 



NATIVE CONSPIRATORS. 347 

for one day Felippo, one of the two Indian interpreters 
wlio Lad accompanied Pizarro back from Spain, in- 
formed their master that the chiefs had met together 
to deliberate upon a plan by which they might rid 
themselves of their foreign visitors. The Spanish com- 
mander lost no time in surrounding the meeting place, 
and arresting the curaca and his subordinates. So daring 
an outrage, however, aroused the people, who attacked 
the Spaniards with great fury. The contest was un- 
equal; for although the Indians were so numerous, 
their ill-clad bodies offered but a poor resistance to the 
heavy swords of the cavalry under Hernando Pizarro, 
and the firearms of the infantry. Still the conqueror 
afterwards declared that their victory was less owing to 
their superior arms, than to the interposition of heaven, 
" for St. Michael and his legions were seen high in the 
air above the combatants, contending with the arch- 
enemy of man, and cheering on the Christians by their 
example." After the- battle, Pizarro set the principal 
chief free, but he burned or beheaded ten others. A 
short time afterwards, Hernando de Soto arrived at Puna 
with two vessels, 100 fresh volunteers, and some horses 
for the cavalry. 

Pizarro now thought he might begin the real busi- 
ness of the conquest of Peru; so, embarking his troops, 
he passed over to Tumbez on the mainland, and took 
possession of two fortified houses. It will be remem- 
bered that it was at this town the Spaniards were so 
hospitably received in the year 1527, and where Pizarro 
left several of his men. But this time they met with 
a very different reception. The first vessel was sur- 
rounded by the natives, and three soldiers who were 



348 FINAL EXPEDITION TO PERU. 

about to disembark were carried off and murdered. 
Another party who were conveying their leader's ward- 
robe ashore were set upon by the Indians; their cries 
for help, however, being heard by Hernando Pizarro, 
who had effected a landing with a party of cavalry 
lower down the coast, he galloped to their assistance, 
when the natives, staggered at the strange sight of the 
horsemen, fled to the neighbouring forest. 

But the Spaniards were more astounded at the sight 
of the great city than at their warlike reception, for, 
with the exception of a few great houses, it was demo- 
lished. The rich decorations of the great temple and 
other public buildings which they had seen on their 
first visit had disappeared. The men who had witnessed 
these treasures, and had told such wondrous stories, 
were dismayed at the scene of desolation around. 
Truly, like an ignis fatuus, the golden stores of Peru 
seemed to Pizarro ever to be flitting before him, but 
always to elude his grasp. The •Spanish leader sent a 
party of cavalry in search of the fugitis^e inhabitants; 
some were taken; one happened to be the curaca him- 
self This chief, upon being brought before Pizarro, 
endeavoured to exonerate himself from any share in 
the late attack upon the Spaniards. As for the 
destruction of the town, he said that was in conse- 
quence of long wars carried on by their enemies, the 
fierce people of Puna. He also informed them that 
the empire was then, and had been for a long time, 
distracted by a cruel civil war, waged by two brothers, 
the sons of the late Inca. 

This was pleasing news to Pizarro, who remembered 
that it was by taking advantage of the dissensions 



PIZARRO IMITATES CORTES. 349 

existing between the fierce tribes of Anahuac tliat 
Cortes had achieved the conquest of Mexico. Accord- 
ingly he resolved in that, as in many other things, to 
imitate his great predecessor. Here I may remark, it 
seems extraordinary that although — as my reader may 
see by a glance at the map — but a small and narrow 
strip of land divided the two empires of Mexico and 
Peru, the Peruvians had never heard of the Mexicans, 
the Mexicans knew nothing of the Peruvians; so that 
while Pizarro had before him the example of Cortes, 
the Incas were unable to profit by the sad experiences 
of. Montezuma and Guatemozin. But for this igno- 
rance the Inca empire would not so easily have become 
the prey of the freebooting Spaniards. But these Incas 
— well, the next chapter shall be devoted to an epitome 
of their history, and the causes of that fratricidal war 
which brought about their i-uin. 



350 



CHAPTEB Y. 



THE STORY OF THE INCAS OF PERU. 

The empire of the Incas, which the Spaniards were 
hastening to subdue, stretched from the second degree 
north to the thirty-seventh degree south latitude, and 
occupied the place of those countries marked upon 
modern maps as Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili. 
Like a backbone, the mighty cordillera of the Andes, 
stretching from the straits of Magellan to the isthmus of 
Panama, passes through the country. Like Anahuac, 
Peru has been divided into three regions. First, the 
coast — a series of valleys, divided by sandy deserts, 
which stretch from the sea to the feet of the Cordilleras, 
and produce sugar, cotton, and wine. Secondly, the 
Sierra — the region of the Andes, which is about 300 
miles wide, contains the most stupendous mountains, 
vast plains, warm and fertile valleys. The Sierra is 
the native place of the potato, the abode of the vicuna 
and alpaca, while in its recesses lie the far-famed and 
inexhaustible treasures of Peru. Thirdly, the Montana, 
or tropical forests, which skirt the eastern slopes of 
the Andes, and abound in products of the greatest 
commercial value, which, says Mr. Markham, who was 
the first to describe these three divisions, "will at 
some future time be the principal source of Peruvian 
wealth." 



OEIGIN OF CUZCO. 351 

The Spaniards found the whole country in a high 
state of civilization. An industrious people settled 
along the lofty regions and in the valleys, betvi^een 
whose hamlets and towns intercourse was maintained 
by great roads, which, commencing at the capital, 
passed to the extremities of the empire. One of these 
roads was a work as great as the imperial canal, or 
great wall of China. It was twelve hundred miles 
long — that is, about as far as from Paris to Constan- 
tinople ; broad enough for six horsemen to ride abreast, 
and at some places reached an elevation of 12,440 feet 
above the level of the sea. Like the Ch incase, the 
Peruvians had couriers (Chasquis) stationed along the 
roads, at about three bow-shots distance from each 
other. They lived in huts, in couples, one being 
always ready to start. A verbal message was thus 
speedily sent through the empire, for being delivered to 
the nearest, he would run with great si)eed to the next, 
who would take it to another, and so on through the 
city. The source of this civilization was the capital, 
Cuzco. The origin of this city is given in the fol- 
lowing pretty legend, told by a descendant of the 
Incas : — 

" The sun, the great luminary and parent of man- 
kind, taking compassion on their degraded condition, 
sent two of his children, Manco Capac and Mama 
Oello Huaco, to gather the natives into communities 
and teach them the arts of civilized life. The celestial 
pair, brother and sister, husband and wife, advanced 
along the high plains in the neighbourhood of Lake 
Titicaca, to about the sixteenth degree south. They 
bore with them a golden wedge, and were directed to 
2 a 



352 THE STORY OF THE IXC AS OF PERU. 

take up tlieir residence on the spot where the sacred 
emblem should, without effort, sink into the gi'ound. 
They proceeded accordingly but a short distance, as far 
as the valley of Cuzco, the spot indicated by the per- 
formance of the miracle, since there the wedge speedily 
sank into the earth and disapjoeared for ever. Here 
the children of the sun established their residence, and 
soon entered upon their beneficent mission among the 
rude inhabitants of the country — Manco Capac teach- 
ing the men the arts of agriculture, and Mama Oello 
initiating her own sex in the mysteries of wea'sdng and 
spinning. The simple people lent a willing ear to the 
messengers of heaven, and, gathering together in con- 
siderable numbers, laid the foundations of the city of 
Cuzco. The same wise and benevolent maxims; which 
regulated the conduct of the first Incas descended to 
their successors, and under their mild sceptre a com- 
munity gradually extended itself along the broad 
surface of the table-land which asserted its superiority 
over the surrounding tribes." 

Another legend told that the Inca empire had its 
origin in certain white and bearded men, who, coming 
from the shores of the great lake Titicaca, established 
their rule over the then inhabitants, and imparted 
to them the blessings of civilization ; and the latter 
tradition seems probable, since even at the present day 
their exists near the great lake Titicaca, some im- 
posing architectural ruins, which have been proved by 
archseologists to have been the work of a race which 
must have flourished centuries jDi'ior to the establish- 
ment of the Incas, which took place not more than 
four hundred years before the coming of the Spaniards. 



CIVILIZATION OF THE PERUVIANS. 353 

But althougli the real origin of the Peruvian empire is 
lost, or at least uncertain, at the coming of the Chris- 
tians the people were in a high state of civilization. 
Unlike the Aztecs, they rarely, if ever, practised the 
horrible rite of human sacrifice; the still more un- 
natural practice of cannibalism was unknown to them. 
Their towns and cities were numerous, large, and 
inhabited by a well-governed and flourishing popu- 
lation. In their cities were substantial bridges, 
palaces, and fortresses erected of massive stones, while, 
for the health of the population, the streets were inter- 
spersed with squares and spacious openings. Each 
town had its aqueduct of massive masonry; their 
industry and mechanical skill were proved by their 
public buildings ; their beautiful workmanship in silver, 
gold, and copper ; their manufactures in carpets, hang- 
ings, coverlets, and robes, some of which were woven 
of wool, intermixed with the hair of animals, and of a 
texture so delicate, that on both sides it had the lustre 
of silk, while the brilliancy of the dyes was such as to 
raise the envy of a European artizan. 

So many and wise were the provisions against 
poverty, that although much of the empire was barren, 
it is said no man, however humble, suffered from the 
want of food or clothing, and a beggar did not exist 
among them; for under the mild despotism of the 
Incas no person could become so reduced. But neither 
could he become rich. How true ! but what bitter 
satire is there in the words of a President of the 
Spanish Council of the Indies, " Contented with their 
condition, and free from vice, the mild and docile char- 
acter of the Peruvians would have well fitted them to 



354 THE STORY OF TPIE INCAS OF PERU. 

receive the teacliings of Christianity, had the love of 
conversion, instead of gold, animated the breasts of the 
conquerors." The Incas* of Peru, boasting their 
descent from the sun, — which luminary the Peruvians 
worshipped as the symbol of the Alraightj^ — reigned as 
the representative of the sun, and were despotic lords 
and masters of his subjects, their projierty, and even 
their thoughts ; at least it would have been high trea- 
son in Peru to have denied this. Their state was mag- 
nificent, for the Inca was the point to which all the 
wealth of the empire converged. His capital, Cuzco, 
was considered sacred, holy, because therein was his 
chief palace and the gorgeous temple of the sun, wherein 
he presided upon important ceremonials. Still he had 
a palace in every chief town, and magnificent lodges 
at different points on the great roads. The latter were 
frequently used, for the monarch was continually 
making royal processions for the benefit of his people. 
Upon these occasions he was borne in a magnificent 
litter, emblazoned with gold and emeralds. The men 
who carried him were appointed by two cities selected 
for the purpose. The office of Inca-bearer was highly 
honourable, but scarcely to be coveted, I should ima- 
gine, as a fall was punishable with death. The splen- 
dour of the palaces of these demi-gods is beyond 
description. There was one at Yucay, a few leagues 
from the capital, the baths of which were replenished 
by streams of crystal water, which were conducted 
through subterranean silver channels into basins of 
gold. The large gardens of this residence were filled 
with every kind of plant that grew in Peru. But there 
* Inca signified king or lord. 



FUNERAL OF THE INCA. 355 

were smaller ones within these, in which imitation 
fruits and plants, wrought of gold and silver, were 
planted. This is a dazzling picture of the wealth of 
the Incas, although we know that all the gold passed 
into the hands of the sovereign, and none was con- 
verted into coin. But how much greater is our astonish- 
ment when we find that each prince amassed his own 
wealth — that he could inherit none; for upon the death 
of an Inca his palaces were abandoned, all his treasures, 
except what were employed in his obsequies, his furni- 
ture and wardrobe, .were suffered to remain as he left 
them, and his residences, save one, were closed np for 
ever, and the new Inca had to provide himiself with 
everything for his state and royalty. The reason for 
this extraordinary custom was the belief that the soul 
of the deceased sovereign would, after a time, return to 
the body, and it was therefore desirable that he should 
find everything he had been used to in life prepared for 
his reception. The Inca being called home to the man- 
sions of his father, the sun (^^ e., died), the bowels were 
taken from the body, and, with a quantity of his plate 
and jewels, buried in the temj)le of Tampu, a few 
leagues from the capital. The sad part of the story is, 
that a great number, sometimes a thousand of his 
favoiu-ite attendants and concubines, were immolated 
jn his tomb. The ceremonials of sorrow on the part 
of his subjects were as numerous and long lasting as 
those of the Chinese upon the demise of the emperor. 

The body was embalmed and placed in the great 
temple of the sun at Cuzco. "There," says the his- 
torian, " the Peruvian sovereign, on entering the awful 
sanctuary, might behold the effigies of his royal ances- 



356 THE STORY OF THE INCAS OF PERU. 

tors ranged in opposite files — the men on tlie riglit and 
their queens on the left of the great luminary which 
blazed in refulgent gold on the walls of the temple. 
The bodies, clothed in the princely attire which they 
had been accustomed to wear, were placed on chairs 
of gold, and sat with their heads inclined downward, 
their hands placidly crossed over their bosoms, their 
countenances exhibiting their natural dusky hue, less 
liable to change than the fresher colouring of a Euro- 
pean complexion, and their hair of raven black, or 
silvered over with age, according to the period at 
which they died. It seemed like a company of solemn 
worshippers fixed in devotion, so true were the forms 
and lineaments of life. The Peruvians were as success- 
ful as the Egyptians in the miserable attempt to per- 
petuate the existence of the body beyond the limits 
assigned to it by nature. 

" They cherished a still stranger illusion in the atten- 
tions which they continued to pay to these insensible 
remains, as if they were instinct with life. One of the 
houses belonging to a deceased Inca was kept open, and 
occupied by his guard and attendants, with all the state 
appropriate to royalty. On certain festivals the revered 
bodies of the sovereigns were brought out with great 
ceremony into the public square of the capital. Invi- 
tations were gent by the captains of the guard of the 
respective Incas to the difierent nobles and officers of 
the court, and entertainments were provided in the 
names of their masters, which displayed all the profuse 
magnificence of their treasures ; and 'such a display,' 
says an ancient chronicler, ' was there in the great 
square of Cuzco, on this occasion, of gold and silver 



THE NOBLES AND THE PEOPLE. 357 

plate and jewels, as no other city in tlie world ever 
witnessed.' The banquet was served by the menials 
of the respective households, and the guests partook of 
the melancholy cheer in the presence of the royal 
phantom, with the same attention to the forms of 
courtly etiquette as if the living monarch had pre- 
sided. 

Of nobles there were but two orders, viz., the princes 
of the blood, who were very numerous, being all those 
who were descended from different reigning lucas, and 
the curacas — that is, the chiefs of conquered nations 
or their descendants. These great men possessed many 
important privileges; but, like the nobles of Ava, the 
most illustrious was compelled, on entering the pre- 
sence of his sovereign, to bear a small burden upon his 
shoulders as a symbol of his humility. As for the 
people, the working masses, of whose content we have 
heard, they alone had the weight of maintaining the 
state; for the Inca nobles, the lesser nobility, the 
public functionaries, and even the vast number of 
priests, were all exempt from taxation, ay, and were 
supported by the labouring classes, who could never 
better their condition. Without money, with little 
property, they paid their taxes in toil; and to toil 
they were compelled, for sloth was punished as a crime 
against the state. Is it to be wondered that so pas- 
sive, quietly-enduring a race, were so easily conquered 
by a handful of Spaniards? Did they deserve free- 
dom 1 I think not. Yet Prescott, himself a son of 
one of the most industrious and freest races in the 
globe, palliates, nay, praises the system by which these 
poor people were enslaved, as if, forsooth, slavery 



358 THE STORY OF THE INCAS OF PERU. 

could be endurable to any nation under any circum- 
stances. "If no man," he writes, "could become rich 
in Peru, no man could become poor. ISo spendtlirift 
could waste his substance in riotous luxury; no ad-, 
venturous schemer could impoverish his family by the 
spirit of speculation. The law was constantly directed 
to enforce a steady industry and a sober management 
of his affaii-s. No mendicant was tolerated in Peru. 
When a man was reduced by poverty or misfortune 
(it could hardly be by fault) the arm of the law was 
stretched out to minister relief; not the stinted relief 
of private charity, nor was it doled out drop by drop, 
as it were, from the frozen reservoirs of ' the parish,' 
but in a generous measure, bringing no humiliation to 
the object of it, and placing him on a level with the 
rest of his countrymen. No man could be rich, no 
man could be poor in Peru, but all might enjoy, and 
did enjoy, a competence. Ambition, avarice, the love 
of change, the morbid spirit of discontent, those pas- 
sions which most agitate the minds of men, found no 
place in the bosom of the Peruvian. The very condi- 
tion of his being seemed to be at war with change. 
He moved on in the same unbroken circle in which 
his fathers had moved before hira, and in which his 
children were to follow. It was the object of the 
Incas to infuse into their subjects a spirit of passive 
obedience and tranquillity — a perfect acquiescence in 
the established order of things. In this they fully suc- 
ceeded. The Spaniards Avho first visited the country 
are emphatic in their testimony, that no government 
could have been better suited to the genius of the 
people, and no people could have appeared more con- 



THE GEEAT INC A. S59 

tented with their lot, or more devoted to their govern- 
ment." 

The Peruvian, like the Aztec sovereigns had ever 
sought to enlarge their empire by conquest; but, unlike 
the latter, who carried on a war of extermination, and 
sacrificed hecatombs of prisoners, the Incas wisely used 
every means to make the conquered people feel them- 
selves absorbed in the empire for their own advantage. 
A nation having been subdued, many thousands of 
Peruvians were sent to live among its people, and thus 
it became gan'isoned and colonized at the same time. 

The most renowned of the sovereigns of Peru was 
the Inca Tupac Yupanqui, who died in the latter 
part of the fifteenth century. This prince, by his arms 
and wisdom, had gradually extended his empire until 
it reached from the remotest borders of Chili to the 
southern provinces of Quito, an independent king- 
dom, of which Tumbez was one of the chief cities. It 
was subdued and added to the empire by Huayna 
Capac, the son and successor of Tupac. This conquest 
of Quito, or rather its consequences, causing a cruel 
civil war, accelerated the downfall of the empire. 

This Huayna Capac seems to have been a wise and 
energetic ruler, for the whole of his reign was devoted 
to the settlement and completion of the vast work 
begun by his father, such as the creation of great 
roads, the establishment of ports, and the consolidation 
of the many races into a united people. It was about 
ten years before his death that the Inca was told that 
white men had been seen on the shores of the Pacific. 
He heard of their arms, their horses, their artillery, and, 
like the Aztec emperor, Montezuma, from that moment 



360 THE STORY OF THE INCAS OF PERU. 

believed that tlie downfall of the children of the sun 
was at hand, a belief in which he was strengthened by 
predictions long extant among his race, and by those 
supernatural events which the Inca, Garcilasso de la 
Yega, his descendant, tells us happened just prior to 
the coming of the Christians: comets flamed in the 
heavens; earthquakes shook the landj the moon was 
girdled with rings of fire of many colours; a thunder- 
bolt fell on one of the royal palaces and reduced it to 
ashes; an eagle, chased by several hawks, was seen, 
screaming in the air, to hover above the great square 
of Cuzco, when, pierced by their talons, the royal bird 
fell lifeless in the presence of many of the Inca nobles ! 
Huayna Capac, remembering these things when near 
his end, called his chiefs around, and announced the 
conquest of the empire by the white men. " It was," 
he added, "the consummation predicted by the oracles, 
after the reign of the twelfth Inca, and he prayed his 
vassals that, as such was the will of Heaven, not to 
resist its decrees." 

Very numerous were the children of Huayna Capac. 
Those, however, with whom we are chiefly concerned 
were Huascar, the heir to the crown, the son of his 
lawful or chief wife and sister,* Manco Capac, and 
Atahuallpa, the most beloved of his children, whose 
mother was the daughter of the last King of Quito. 
Upon his death-bed the old Inca, departing from the 
custom of the realm, divided his empire between his 
youngest and eldest son. The ancient kingdom of 
Quito was given to Atahuallpa, who was, by his mother, 
descended from its royal race. The rest of the do- 
• Like the ancient Egyptian sovereigns, the Incas married their sisters. 



THE RIVAL INCAS. 361 

millions passed to Huascar. This arrangement was not 
satisfactory to tlie elder brother ; still, being of a mild 
and gentle disposition, he submitted, and for nearly five 
years the royal brothers remained upon good terms. 
The fierce and warlike Atahiiallpa, however, discon- 
tented with the smallness of his possessions, was ever 
seeking to increase them by warlike enterprises. As 
might have been foreseen, he encroached upon the 
ten-itory of his elder brother, who, becoming alarmed, 
remonstrated with him, and, moreover, demanded that 
Atahuallpa should render him homage for his kingdom 
of Quito. This embassy was sufficient; probably it 
had been long desired. War now broke out between 
the brothers. Atahuallpa, at the head of a great army, 
and accompanied by two of the most renowned of his 
father's generals, Quizquiz and Chalicuchima, set out 
for Cuzco. His progress was partly contested, but 
everywhere he was victorious, and no man or town 
who had resisted his arms was spared. At the city of 
Caxamalca he halted with a detachment, sending the 
main body forward under his two generals. A great 
army, led by the Inca Huascar in person, met them on 
the plains of Quipaypan, near Cuzco ; but after a long 
and sanguinary battle the generals were victorious, and 
with the Inca a prisoner, they marched into the capital 
of the empire. This news being brought to Atahuallpa, 
that prince assumed the Incarial crown, and ordered 
his brother to be confined in the fortress of Xauxa, but 
to be treated with all the respect due to his exalted 
rank, then proceeding to Cuzco, at which place h's 
had previously invited the Inca lords throughout the 
kingdom to meet- him, in order to deliberate on the best 



362 THE STORY OF THE INCAS OF PERU. 

means of partitioning the country between him and his 
brother. The chiefs having complied, they were sur- 
rounded by the fierce soldiery of Quito, who, at a given 
signal, fell upon and mercilessly butchered them. But 
in order that no one of the royal family might be left 
Mvja.0 could show a better title to the throne than him- 
self, it is said that his numerous half-brothers, aunts, 
nieces, cousins — all indeed who had any Inca blood in 
their veins — many thousands — were, at his command, 
assassinated, and that, too, with the most lingering 
tortures. The Inca writer, upon whose authority these 
terrible and unnatural murders are related, further 
states that, to give greater zest to his revenge, many of 
the executions took place in the presence of Huascar, 
who was thus compelled to witness the assassination 
of his own wives and sisters, while, in the extremity 
of anguish, they in vain called on him to protect 
them. This account, however, is not credited by 
Prescott, who says, — "But if the attempt to exter- 
minate the Inca race was actually made by Atahuallpa, 
how comes it that so many of the pure descendants 
of the blood royal — nearly 600 in number — are ad- 
mitted by the historian to have been in existence 
seventy years after the imputed massacre? Why was 
the massacre, instead of being limited to the legitimate 
members of the royal stock, who could show a better 
title to the crown than the usurper, extended to all, 
however remotely, or in whatever way connected with 
the race 1 Why were aged women and young maidens 
involved in the prescription? and why were they sub- 
jected to such refined and superfluous tortures, when it 
is obvious that beings so impotent could have done 



GARCILASSO'S EXAGGERATIONS. 363 

nothing to provoke tiie jealousy of tlie tyrant? Why, 
when so many were sacrificed from some vague appre- 
hension of distant danger, was his rival, Huascar, 
together with his younger brother, Manco Capac — the 
two men from whom the conqueror had most to fear — 
suffered to live? Why, in short, is the wonderful tale 
not recorded by others before the time of Garcilasso, 
and nearer, by half-a-century, to the events themselves." 
But however Garcilasso, himself a descendant of the 
Inca Huascar, may have exaggerated the cruelties of the 
great enemy of his ancestors, even as the partizan writers 
of the houses of Brunswick and Lancaster have magnified 
the .crimes of the. fallen lines of Stuart and York, 
there cannot be the least doubt that, by treason and a 
series of atrocious crimes, Atahuallpa seated himself 
upon the golden throne of the ancient Incas — to him 
the summit of human grandeur. Far better for him 
had it been otherwise ; for the royal brothers united 
could easily have crushed the power of those audacious 
foreigners who, taking advantage of their fratricidal 
quarrel, were about to rob them and their race for ever 
of the empire and wealth for which they were contend- 
ing. Atahuallpa was triumphant; he had climbed to 
the highest pinnacle of greatness. But h? had reached 
the dizzy height of a precipice, from which his fall was 
to be as speedy as it was xnerited. 



364 



CHAPTER YI. 



THE MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR. 

Doubtlessly having in mind the politic measure of 
Cortes in establishing a fort at Yilla Rica, by means 
of which he could be always in communication with 
the colony, and to which he could retreat if necessary, 
Pizarro left a portion of his troops at Tumbez, and set 
out to find a spot where he might build such a place. 
He advanced along the coast between the Cordilleras 
and the ocean, while Hernando de Soto was sent in 
another direction. After a journey of three or four 
weeks he found the desired spot, about thirty leagues 
from Tumbez. Here he halted, and at once sending 
orders to the latter city for the troops he had left there 
to join him, he set about laying the foundation of a 
town which he named San Miguel. 

Having made considerable progress in this work, and 
appointed the municipal officers, it occurred to Pizarro 
that, with his own countrymen at Panama at least, 
honesty would be the best policy; causing, therefore, 
all the gold and silver ornaments he had plundered from 
the natives to be collected, he had them melted down 
into one mass, from which a fifth was at once deducted 
for the crown. The share belonging to the troops who 
had sufiered so much for its gain, he persuaded them to 



THE MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR. 365 

resign for the present, in order that it might be sent 
to the colony to pay off the shipowners, and provide 
stores for the expedition. The troops were easil}^ 
influenced, for, like their commander, they foresaw 
that the consequence would be the hasteniog of rein- 
forcements to join them, and therefore the quicker 
the conquest and plunder. 

It was at San Miguel Pizarro heard of the progress 
of the civil war between the Inca brothers, and that 
Atahuallpa was at that very time encamped a distance 
of only ten or twelve days' journey from his present 
quarters. Upon hearing this, the Spanish chief resolved 
at once to march into the interior and obtain an inter- 
view with the Inca. He could take only 200 men 
him. With such a force, so experienced a captain 
could not possibly have intended an open attack; but 
doubtlessly he again recalled to mind how persistently 
Cortes had advanced from the tierra caliente to the 
valley of imperial Mexico, insisting, at every attempt 
upon the part of the Aztecs to stay his progress, that 
he was only desirous of a friendly interview with Monte- 
zuma. Thus, upon the 24th of September, 1532, Pizarro 
gave the order to march at all hazards into the interior; 
perhaps, if necessary, to beard the Indian sovereign in 
his own camp, surrounded by a large and victorious 
army. This freebooting, or, as it has been called, chiv- 
alrous daring, was delightful to the hearts of his hot- 
headed, reckless followers. It was successful also ; for 
although the simple natives believed in the superior 
nature of the strangers, to them it was beyond even 
surmise that a mere handful of men would attempt to 
march through their empire with hostile intent; and 



366 THE MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR. 

thus it was, that at every village and town through 
which they passed, the inhabitants gave them a hospit- 
able reception ; and, with the cunning of the wolf in 
sheeps' clothing, Pizarro did all that in him lay to 
encourage these kindly feelings, until the time should 
come for him to cast aside his disguise. 

Another incident proved the daring, reckless courage 
of the man. He had discovered that among his men 
there were some reluctant to advance : timorous, hesi- 
tating men are, as w^e have seen in the adventures of 
Cortes, never wanting in such expeditions. Calling 
his troops before him, he sajd, "A crisis has now 
arrived in our ajffairs to meet which will demand all 
our courage and perseverance, therefore let no man 
follow me who has the least misgiving of success. If 
any repent, it is not too late; let them remain in garri- 
son at San Miguel : they shall lose nothing by so doing, 
and be entitled to the same proportion of lands, Indian 
vassals, and wealth, as if they went. With the rest, 
be they many or few, who will take their chance with 
me, I will pursue this adventure to the end." 

Four foot and five horsemen took him at his 
word, and thus strengthened instead of weakened — for 
he had removed those who might have spread dis- 
content through his ranks — Pizarro continued his 
march. 

Many days having elapsed without, as far as signs 
were concerned, bringing them nearer to the Inca's 
camp, the general sent De Soto with a party in advance 
to reconnoitre the country. But it was not till after 
the lapse of a week, and when the Spaniards had begun 
to entertain fears as to the safety of their companions, 



RETURN OF DE SOTO. 3G7 

that De Soto returned, accompanied by an envoy from 
the Inca liimself. This envoy brought with him a 
magnificent present of gold, silver, fine stuffs, and per- 
fume, and was charged, on the part of his master, to 
welcome the Spaniards to the country, and invite them 
to visit the imperial camp among the mountains. They 
also told the Spaniards that Atahuallpa had been vic- 
torious over his brother. Having ascertained from 
these envoys the direct road to Caxamalca, the place 
where the Peruvian sovereign was encamped, Pizarro 
dismissed them with a courteous message to the latter, 
and even a promise that he and his Spaniards would 
help him to subdue his enemies. 

The presents he sent back to San Miguel, and then 
resumed his march. At nights he took up his quarters 
at the fortified houses upon the roads, built there and pro- 
visioned for the use of the monarch upon his progresses, 
thus lodging and boarding at the cost of the govern- 
ment he was proceeding to overthrow. When they 
arrived at the base of the great mountain rampart of 
the Andes, behind which lay Caxamalca, some of the 
soldiers desired to be led at once to Cuzco, which they 
had learned from some Indians was to be reached by a 
great road in a different direction. Perhaps the men 
feared the passage up the mountain road, for they had 
been told it was so steep and narrow that it could be 
defended against an army by a mere handful of men. 
But the general wisely declined to alter the line of his 
march, believing that such a proceeding would offend 
the Inca, whom he had promised to visit. Then it was 
suggested that the Peruvian sovereign had given the 
invitation in order that he might the more easily 



3G8 THE MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR. 

destroy tliem while ia the mountain passes. But 
whatever Pizarro felt, he expressed no such fear. 

"No; there is no alternative," said he, "but to 
inarch straight on. Let every one of you take heart 
and go forward like a good soldier, nothing daunted by 
the smallness of your numbers, for in the greatest 
extremity God ever fights for his own ; and doubt not 
he will humble the pride of the heathen, and bring 
him to the knowledge of the true faith, the great end 
and object of our expedition." 

Fired with enthusiasm at this bold address, they 
replied, " Lead on wherever you think best; we will 
follow, and you shall see that we can do our duty in 
the cause of God and the king;" and although with 
cavalry, baggage, artillery, that passage was in degree 
like the similar feats of Hannibal and the great Na- 
poleon. The attempt was made, and after much severe 
toil, they found themselves in another climate — so cold 
that it caused much suffering both to men and horses, 
— they had reached the summit of the cordilleras. 

Here Pizarro halted, probably to await the return of 
an Indian whom he had sent nominally as an envoy, 
but really as a spy upon the camp of Atahuallpa. How- 
ever, he had scarcely arrived before he was met by 
another embassy, bringing presents and the greetings 
of the Peruvian sovereign, who desired to be informed 
when they would reach Caxamalca, that he might pro- 
vide suitable refreshments for them. 

Desirous to learn all that was possible respecting the 
wealth, power, and forces of the Inca, Pizarro treated 
the envoy with much courtesy, and by means of an in- 
terpreter, a conversation took place, in which there was 



PIZARRO'S MESSAGE TO THE INCA. 369 

considerable vanity and self-glorification on both sides. 
In reply to the wonderful accounts given by the Peru- 
vian of the greatness of his master and the victories he 
had achieved, the Spanish chief modestly replied that 
he knew Atahuallpa to be a mighty monarch and a 
great soldier. But that his master, the King of Spain, 
was sovereign of the whole world, many of whose 
vassals were greater princes than the Inca, and whose 
generals had conquered kings more powerful than either 
Atahuallpa, Huascar, or even their father. 

One can imagine the incredulity which must have 
been visible upon the face of the noble. Pizarro, how- 
ever, whose object was, through such reports as this 
envoy might make, to strike terror into the Inca him- 
self, added, " The King of Spain, my master, has sent 
me hither to give the people a knowledge of the true 
and only God. With the few Christians now around 
me I have already subdued greater kings than Ata- 
huallpa ; therefore, go back to your master and tell him, 
that if he wishes to be my friend, and receive me as 
such, I will be his friend, aid him in his conquest, and 
secure to him his throne ; for I intend to traverse this 
land until I reach the other sea. But," he concluded, 
" if, on the other hand, Atahuallpa wishes for war, I 
will wage it against him as I have against the curaca 
of Tumbez, and all those who have chosen to attack 
me ; but I shall not make war, or do harm to any one 
who does not bring it upon himself." I do not think 
the Peruvian, as he gazed at the few men around him, 
and called to mind the great power of his own sove- 
reign, could have been very much alarmed. Very wisely, 
however, he made no other reply, than that he would 



370 THE MARCH INTO THE INTER lOH. 

faithfully repeat to Ataliuallpa all lie had heard. The 
next day, while the envoy was still in the camp, the 
Indian whom Pizarro had sent forward as a spy 
returned, and seeing his enemy (he was a native of the 
isle of Puna, the inhabitants of which, during the civil 
war, had sided with Huascar) so honourably treated 
by the Spaniards, he fell into a great rage, and would 
have slain him but for the interference of those around. 
" It is hard," he exclaimed, " that this Peruvian dog 
should be so courteously treated when I have nearly 
lost my life on a similar mission among his country- 
men." Becoming cooled, he told Pizarro that, on. 
reaching the Inca's camp, he had been refused admis- 
sion to his presence, on the ground that he was keeping 
a fast and could not be seen. They had paid no re- 
spect to his assertion that he came as an envoy from the 
white men, and would, probably, not have suffered him 
to escape with life, if he had not assured them that any 
violence offered to him would be retaliated in full mea- 
sure on the persons of the Peruvian envoys now in the 
Spanish quarters. There was no doubt," he continued, 
" of the hostile intentions of Ataliuallpa, for he was sur- 
rounded with a powerful army, strongly encamped 
about a league from Caxamalca, while that city was 
entirely evacuated by its inhabitants." 

To all this the Inca's envoy coolly replied, " That 
PizaiTo's messenger might have reckoned on such a 
reception as he had found, since he seemed to have 
taken with him no credentials of his mission. As to 
the Inca's fast, that was true ; and although he would 
doubtless have seen the messenger had he known there 
was one from the strangers, yet it was not safe to dis- 



THE ADVANCE UPON CAXAMALCA. 371 

turb him at these solemn seasons, when eogaged in his 
religious duties. The troops by whom he was sur- 
rounded were not numerous, considering that the Inca 
was at that time carrying on an important war : and as 
to Caxamalca, it was abandoned by the inhabitants in 
order to make room for the white men who were so 
soon to occupy it." 

Pizarro pretended to be satisfied with this plausible 
explanation, reproved the Indian for his rashness, and 
dismissed the envoy with many assurances of respect for 
his sovereign, before whom he should speedily present 
himself. This was a wise policy; for, although Pizarro 
but little doubted that treachery was intended, with 
his small force he feared to endanger his apparently 
friendly relations with the Peruvian prince. 

The following day he divided his army into three 
corps, and advanced upon Caxamalca. Proceeding 
down the slopes of the sierra, they saw the city be- 
neath them. But across the valley a view met them 
that was not altogether so pleasing, for the hills for 
several miles were covered with the white tents of the 
Peruvians. " It filled us all with amazement," exclaimed 
one who was present, " to behold the Indians occui)ying 
so proud a position, so many tents, so well-appointed, 
as were never seen in the Indies till now. The spec- 
tacle caused something like confusion, and even fear, 
in the stoutest bosom; but it was too late to turn 
back, or to betray the least sign of weakness, since the 
natives in our company would, in such a case, have 
been the first to rise u]Don us. So, assuming a bold 
countenance, we coolly surveyed the ground, and pre- 
pared for our entrance into Caxamalca." 



372 THE MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR. 

It was in the evening of the 15th of November, 
1532, that the Spaniards entered the town. It was 
a place of considerable size, the greater part of the 
houses being built of clay hardened in the sun, al- 
though there were others of hewn stone. It contained 
also a convent, occupied by the virgins of the sun, and 
a fortress of stone. To the surprise of the Spaniards, 
as they marched through the streets of this great town, 
they met no living thing — the place was deserted. 
Under these circumstances Pizarro seized the fortress, 
as fitted for safe quarters in case of an attack. 

Expecting the approach of Atahuallpa in person, or 
at least an envoy, the general kept the horsemen in 
their saddles. When, however, he found it was grow- 
ing late, he became so anxious to know the disposition 
of the Inca that he sent two bodies of horse, under the 
command of De Soto and his brother Hernando, to the 
Peruvians. 

As this party approached the camp, they came to a 
small river, across which was a wooden bridge, but, 
distrusting its strength, or perhaps to exhibit their 
horsemanship before a battalion of Indian warriors 
drawn up on the opposite side, they dashed through 
the water, and speedily gained the bank. The Indians 
stared with astonishment, and doubtlessly with fear in 
their hearts, at these bearded, steel-clad strangers, and 
their still more wonderful horses. One of them pointed 
to the quarter occupied by the Inca, It was an open 
court-yard, with a light building in the centre, having 
galleries all round. The court was crowded vrith 
Peruvian nobles and the women of the household, all 
very gorgeously attired, and standing in the station 




Interview of Pizarro and the Inea. 



IXTERVIEW WITH ATAHUALLPA. 373 

suited to tlieir different ranks about one who, more 
plainly attired, was sitting near tlie entrance of the 
court upon a low cushion. This was the terrible 
Atahuallpa, the Inca of Peru, who, since the downfall 
of his brother, had assumed "the round and top of 
sovereignty" of his race. The borla, a crimson tasselled 
fringe which surrounded the forehead, hanging as low 
as the eyebrows. 

As De Soto, who was some distance in advance of 
Hernando Pizarro, accompanied by two or three only 
of his men, rode slowly towards the Inca he made a 
respectful obeisance. But Atahuallpa kept his eyes 
fixed upon the ground, moving them neither to the 
right nor the left. Unabashed at this unpromising 
reception, the Spaniard, still sitting on horseback, by 
means of his interpreter declared that he and his com- 
panions were the subjects of a mighty prince across the 
water, and having heard of Atahuallpa's great vic- 
tories, had come to offer their services, and to impart 
to him the true faith which they professed; lastly, 
that their general had sent them to beg that he (the 
Inca) would be pleased to visit the Spaniards in their 
present quarters. 

Still Atahuallpa remained silent and motionless, not 
making the least sign. The Spaniards awaited with 
dread anxiety; but the only reply was from one of the 
nobles, who answered, "It is well." 

As may be imagined, this was somewhat embarrass- 
ing to men who were so desirous to discover the real 
inclination of the Peruvian sovereign towards them. 
By this time Hernando Pizarro had come up, and the 
Inca, being informed that he was brother to the leader 



374 THE MARCH INTO THE INTEEIOR. 

of tlie Spaniards, condescended to lift liis eyes, and 
listened attentively while Hernando repeated a similar 
address to that delivered by De Soto. The warlike 
Peruvian now rej)lied with much dignity of manner 
that the curaca of a town near San Misjuel had told 
him the Spaniards had maltreated some Peruvian 
chiefs and put them ia chains; but, he added in a 
tone of contempt, the same curaca had also given 
him to understand that the strangers were no great 
warriors, for he had killed three of them and one of 
their horses. Notwithstanding, how^ever, these in- 
juries he (the Inca) would be the friend of the Span- 
iards, and in the morning visit their general. 

To charge a Castilian with bad soldiership \vas to 
give mortal offence. The ungovernable Hernando, 
forgetting the danger of his situation, replied that 
"The Indians were as hens to Spaniards; one horse 
would be enough to subdue the whole country; and 
that when the Inca saw them fight he would soon 
discover what kind of men they were ;" adding, " that 
his brother had much regard for him, and, therefore, 
if he would only point out any enemies, the Spaniards 
would conquer them for him." To which Atahuallpa 
replied, that at a little distance there were some stub- 
born people against whom his troops could make no 
way, therefore the Christians might help to conquer 
them. " Our general,'" was the haughty reply, " will 
send ten horsemen, which will be sufficient to scour 
the whole country. As for your Indians they are only 
necessary to hunt out the fugitives ;" " Whereat," this 
captain himself writes, "the Inca spoke not, but smiled, 
as a man who did not so much esteem us." 



PIZARRO'S DARING RESOLVE. 375 

When Hernando and De Soto returned and told 
their companions in arms of tlie military strength 
and proud bearing of Atahuallpa, there were few 
among them who did not inwardly groan at the rash- 
ness with which so small a party had thrown them- 
selves into the very heart of so powerful an empire. 
Pizarro^ however, who knew not fear, was secretly 
delighted that matters had been brouglit to such a 
crisis, and observing their despondency, set about post- 
ing his sentinels and strengthening his position against 
a sudden attack. Then he went round to his men, 
exhorting them to rely upon themselves, and on that 
Providence which had already carried them through so 
many trials. "As for the numbers of the enemy," he 
said, " what did that matter, when the arm of Heaven 
was on their side 1 " By such words did this fearless 
and determined man keep up the spirits of his soldiery 
during that night of anxious expectancy. 

From his first landing upon the southern continent, 
Pizarro had upon every opportunity steadily followed 
the conduct pursued by Cortes. He had now resolved 
upon plagiarizing the most astounding of all that con- 
queror's daring acts, viz., the seizure of Montezuma in 
his own palace. The motives he assigned to his coun- 
cil of officers for so desperate an attempt were, that 
Atahuallpa was meditating treachery; he had by soft 
messages and presents decoyed the Spaniards across the 
mountains in order to destroy them ; they had fallen 
into the trap; whichever way they turned they were 
equally beset with dangers. To fly was impossible, as 
at the first signal of retreat the Peruvians would be 
upon them ; while to remain inactive was but to quietly 



376 THE MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR. 

submit themselves to be entangled in the web the 
cunning monarch was weaving. To meet his enemy 
in the field would be madness; and even if victorious 
against such terrible odds, it was doubtful if they should 
be fortunate enough to take the Inca prisoner. The 
remedy he proposed, therefore, was to take advantage 
of the invitation he had so unsuspiciously accepted, 
and secure his person there and then. To those who 
hesitated he said there was no time like the present; 
for within a day or two the Inca's already large army 
might be doubled or trebled by the return of those 
victorious legions who had so recently been fighting 
his battles in the south. Having thus argued and con- 
vinced his hearers of the wisdom of his plan, he retired 
to his quarters. 

In the morning Pizarro inspected the arms of his 
troops, and ordered bells to be affixed to the breast- 
plates of the horses, that the noise might add to the 
terror of the Peruvians. The soldiers were then re- 
freshed, in order to be the better prepared for the fight; 
after which mass was performed with great solemnity, 
the God of battles was invoked to spread his shield 
over the soldiers who were fighting to extend the 
empire of the cross, and all joined with enthusiasm in 
the chant, " Ex surge, Doming'' — " Pise, O Lord ! and 
judge thine own cause." "One might have supposed 
these," says the chronicler, "a company of martyrs 
about to lay down their lives in defence of their faith, 
instead of a licentious band of adventurers meditating 
one of the most atrocious acts of perfidy recorded in 
history." 

By daybreak the Spaniards were under arms, and 



APPROACH OF ATAHUALLPA. 377 

ready to receive tlieir royal visitor; but the first inti- 
mation obtained by tlie Spaniards of tlie Peruvians' 
preparations to visit their camp, was a message from 
Atahuallpa informing Pizarro that he should come 
with his soldiers fully armed, as the Spaniards had 
come to him the night before. This was anything but 
pleasing to the Spanish chief; still he replied, "Let 
the Inca come when and how he would, he should be 
received as 2^ friend and a hr other T 

About noon the Peruvians were seen approaching. 
In front came numerous attendants, sweeping every 
particle of rubbish from the road. The Inca was borne 
in a litter upon the shoulders of his nobles, whose 
dresses were so splendid that, says one who was j)re- 
sent, "they blazed in the sun." When the procession 
had reached within half a mile of the city it halted, 
and a messenger came to tell the Spaniards that the 
monarch would remain there that night, and enter the 
city the following morning. Pizarro feared delay. The 
cavalry had been in their saddles and the infantry at 
their posts since daybreak; the men were impatient; 
they were enduring a suspense that might soon unnerve 
them ; he therefore sent to the Inca, telling him that 
he had provided everything for his entertainment, and 
expected him that night to sup with him. This mes- 
sage had the desired effect. Atahuallpa resumed his 
march, first sending word that he should leave the 
greater part of his warriors behind, and enter the town 
with only a few of them, and without arms, as he pre- 
ferred to pass the night at Caxamalca. This was joy- 
ous news for the Christians; the Indian sovereign was 
rushing, of his own accord, into the trap prepared for him. 



378 THE MARCH INTO THE INTEEIOR. 

That you may fully compreliend the nature of this 
snare, I must explain to you that the square iH which 
the Inca was to be received as a friend and a brother 
was defended on three sides by ranges of buildings, 
consisting of large halls with wide doorways opening 
into it. In these halls were stationed the cavalry in 
two divisions, one under Hernando, the other under 
De Soto. The foot were j^laced in another of the 
buildings, with the excej)tion of twenty picked men, to 
be used by Pizarro as occasion might require. Pedro 
de Candia, with a few soldiers and two pieces of artil- 
lery, were placed so that, if necessary, the latter might 
play with terrible ejBPect upon the Indians. Having 
thus posted his troops, the Spanish chief commanded 
them to remain under cover till they heard the dis- 
charge of a gun, at which signal they were to shout 
out their war-cries, rush, out in a body, and, putting 
the Peruvians to the sword, bear off the person of 
their sovereign. 

A short time before sunset, 300 men in livery came 
clearing the way before the litter of their sovereign, 
then three companies of dancers and singers, and a 
large body of nobles in golden armour, wearing crowns 
of the same metal or silver. In the midst of these the 
Inca was borne in a litter, adorned with plumes of 
paroquet's feathers of all colours, and ornamented with 
gold and silver. Then came two other litters contain- 
ing princes of the blood, followed by several companies 
of men wearing crowns of gold and silver. The Inca 
Avore round his neck a collar of emeralds of uncommon 
size and brilliancy. His short hair was decorated with 
golden ornaments, and the imperial horla or fringe 



THE SPANISH PRIEST AND THE INCA. 379 

encircled liis temples. The monarcli's bearing was 
calm and dignified. As the leading files of the proces- 
sion entered the square, they deployed to the right or 
the left, when, having reached the centre of the square, 
Atahuallpa came to a halt, and, looking around, in- 
quiringly asked, "Where are the strangers'?" 

Well might the monarch ask this question, for not one 
Spanish soldier met his sight. As we have seen, they 
were all within the great fortified house. At that mo- 
ment, however, Pizarro's chaplain. Father de Yalverde, 
advanced towards the Inca, bearing a cross in one hand 
and a Bible in the other. "Who and what is this man?" 
asked the astonished Inca of those Indians who had 
journeyed with the Spaniards. They explained that the 
father was a preacher and messenger of the supreme God. 
The latter, however, approaching close to the royal litter, 
delivered an address, in which he said he had been sent 
by the general to expound the doctrines of the true 
faith to his highness. He then proceeded to explain 
the mystery of the Holy Trinity; and that upon the 
death and ascension of our Saviour, the apostle Peter 
was left vicegerent upon earth ; that the successors of the 
apostle were good and wise men called popes, who were 
superior to all the potentates upon earth, adding that 
one of the last had given authority to the Spanish 
emperor, the mightiest sovereign in the world, to con- 
quer and convert the natives of the western hemisphere. 
The father concluded by beseeching the Inca to embrace 
the Christian faith, and also to acknowledge himself a 
tributary of the Emperor Charles V., who, in return, 
would protect him as a loyal vassal. All this having 
been rendered into the Peruvian tongue to the best of 



380 THE MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR. 

the ability of the interpreter, the Indian monarch, with 
darkened brow and flashing eye, replied, — " I will be 
no man's tributary. I am greater than any prince 
upon earth. Your emperor may be a great prince ; I 
do not doubt it when I see that he has sent his subjects 
so far across the waters, and I am willing to hold liim 
as a brother. As for the pope of whom you speak, he 
must be crazy to talk of giving away countries which 
do not belong to him. For my faith," he continued, 
"1 will not change it. Your own God, as you say, 
was put to death by the very men whom he created ; but 
mine" — as he spoke he pointed to the sun — "still lives 
in the heaven, and looks down on his children. By 
what authority," he concluded, do you say these 
things 1 " The priest placed a Bible in his hands. The 
Inca turned over a few pages, but suddenly dashed it 
upon the ground, exclaiming, " Tell your companions 
that they shall give me an account of their doings since 
their arrival in my land. I will not go from here till 
they have made me full satisfaction for all the wrongs 
they have committed." So saying, Atahuallpa moved 
in his litter and spoke to those around him. A mur- 
mur arose, as if they were calling for their armed 
companions. The priest hastened back to Pizarro, and 
having reported the result of his interview, said, — "Do 
you not see that, while we stand here wasting our 
breath in talking with this dog, full of pride as he is, 
the fields are filling with Indians ? Set on at once ; I 
absolve you." 

This was enough. Pizarro made the appointed 
signal by waving a white scarf. A gun was fired from 
the fortress, and in an instant, shouting " St. Jago and 



ATTACK UPON THE INCA. 381 

at them," Pizarro and his followers, horse and foot, 
were mowing and trampling down the unarmed Peru- 
vians, who, astounded by the roaring of the artillery, 
the smoke, and those terrible horses, which the greater 
part of them then saw for the first time, made no 
resistance, but nobles and commoners, in their efforts 
to escape, choked up every avenue with their falling 
bodies; and such was the agony of the survivors in 
their almost superhuman struggles to fly from these 
murderous brigands, that they burst through the wall 
of stone and dried clay which partly enclosed the 
square. The Inca nobles, faithful to the last, rallied 
round their prince, either endeavouring to tear the 
Spaniards from their saddles, or offering their own per- 
sons to shield him. " Let no one who values his life 
strike at the Inca," cried Pizarro, who, endeavouring to 
shield him, received a wound in his hand (the only 
wound received by the Spaniards in that onset). But 
what availed the resistance of the Inca lords against 
their terrible foes 1 In a very short time they fell to 
the earth slaughtered, and the Peruvian monarch was 
seized by Pizarro himself, who, by way of excusing him- 
self to his guest, told him it was no disgrace to be con- 
quered by one who had done great things, and that he 
had seized him and slain his people partly because he 
had come with a numerous army, but chiefly for having 
thrown upon the ground the book which contained the 
Word of God. 

In that cruel raid it is said that five thousand Peru- 
vians were killed. " What wonder was it," said an 
Inca noble to a contemporary chronicler, "that our 
countrymen lost their wits, seeing blood run like water, 



382 THE MAECH INTO THE INTEraOR. 

and the luca, whose person we all of us adored, seized 
and carried off by a handful of men!" One would 
scarcely have been surprised if Atahuallpa, the recent 
conqueror of an empire, himself so suddenly, so unex- 
pectedly conquered by a handful of strangers, should 
have been bereft of his senses; but, on the contrary, 
that night he sat at supper with the Spanish chiefs as if 
they had been his friends; more, he — at least so the 
conquerors afterwards declared — expressed his admira- 
tion at the cleverness with which they had entrapped, 
him. Then he told them that he had known of their 
coming, and their progress from the time of their 
arrival, but that he had been led to undervalue their 
power from the smallness of their numbers ; further, he 
added, that having had little doubt of being able to 
overpower them, he had permitted them to cross the 
mountains, intending to select some for his own service, 
and taking possession of their wonderful horses, put the 
rest to death. All this we have only on the authority 
of the conquerors, whose object it was to find some 
excuse by which they could palliate their foul and 
sanguinary treachery; for, however probable it was 
that some such scheme might have passed through the 
mind of the Inca (and he would have been justified in 
so treating the invaders), it is not at all likely that 
a monarch remarkable for his astuteness, deliberate 
speech, and grave, thoughtful manner, should have so 
expressed himself. 

Now, although we cannot feel much astonishment at 
the victory gained by the Spaniards over the unarmed 
men within the square, it is certainly extraordinary 
that the veteran army, then encamped but a mile or 



PART PLAYED BY HORSES IN THE CONQUEST. 383 

two from tlie city, should have fled in every direction 
upon' hearing of the attack upon their sovereign. As 
with the Mexicans, there can be no doubt the Peru- 
vians were astounded at the death-dealing cannon. 
But the horses must have had a great deal to do with 
it, although less, perhaps, than the historian Helps 
would have us believe. Still, his essay upon the im- 
portant part played by those animals in the two great 
historical tragedies of the New World is so graphic 
and instructive that I feel bound to quote it. 

" All that the fiercest beasts of the forests have done 
is absolutely inappreciable, when compared with the 
evil of which that good-natured animal, the horse, has 
been the efficient instrument since he was first tamed 
for the use of man, Atahuallpa afterwards mentioned 
that he had been told how the horses were unsaddled 
at night, which was another reason for his entertaining 
less fear of the Spaniards, and listening more to the 
mistaken notions of Mayzabilica. 

" Saddled or not saddled, however, in the wars be- 
tween the Spaniards and the Indians the horse did not 
play a subordinate part. The horse made the essential 
difference between the armies; and if, in the great 
square of Madrid, there had been raised some huge 
emblem in stone, to commemorate the Spanish con- 
quest of the New World, an equine, not an equestrian 
figure would appropriately crown the work. The 
arms and the armour might have remained the same 
on both sides. The ineffectual clubs, darts, and lances 
might still have been arrayed against the sharp Bis- 
cayan sword and deadly arquebuse ; the cotton doublet 
of Cuzco against the steel corslet of Milan; but, with- 
2c 



384 THE MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR. 

out the horse, the victory would ultimately have heen 
on the side of the overpowering numbers. The Span- 
iards might have hewn into the Peruvian squadrons, 
making clear lanes of prostrate bodies. These squad- 
rons would have closed together again, and by mere 
weight would have compressed to death the little band 
of heroic Spaniards. In truth, had the horse been 
created in America, the conquest of the New World 
would not improbably have been reserved for that 
peculiar epoch of development in the European mind, 
when, as at present, mechanical power has in some 
degree superseded the horse, that power being natur- 
ally measured by the units contained in it of the 
animal force which it represents and displaces." 



385 



CHAPTER YII. 



MURDER OF THE IFCA ATAHUALLPA. 

The morning after the massacre, when the troops had 
cleared the town of the dead, a detachment was sent 
to rifle the Peruvian camp. The booty amounted 
in value to 80,000 pesos, besides several magazines 
stored with costly cotton and woollen cloths, from 
which the men helped themselves; also, some droves 
of fine fat llamas, or Peruvian sheep. They also ob- 
tained an insight into the Inca's character; for, finding 
in the camp the dead bodies of several Indian soldiers 
whom they knew had not been slain by themselves, 
they asked Atahuallpa the cause of their death. He 
told them that when the cavaliers had appeared before 
him in the midst of his court, these soldiers had startled 
with fear at the prancing of the horses — a crime so great 
in his eyes that he had punished them with death. 
The Spaniards affected to shudder at so cruel a dis- 
position ; but the same men proposed to their chief to 
slay in cold blood, or at least cut off the hands of a 
great number of able-bodied prisoners whom they had 
brought from the camp, in order that they might be 
disabled from doing further mischief To the credit, 
however, of Pizarro, who as yet had not advanced so 
far in cruelty, he rejected the proposition as impolitic 



386 MURDER OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA. 

and inhuman, and sent tlie poor people to their homes, 
assuring them that none should be harmed who did 
not offer resistance to the Christians. 

Imitating the behaviour of Cortes to Montezuma, 
Pizarro now caused the Inca to be lodged and treated 
with the respect due to his rank, even permitting him 
to be attended by his wives and nobles. This kind- 
ness probably led the captive prince to believe that no 
violence was intended towards his person; for, entering 
freely into conversation with Pizarro, he told him that 
his generals were then occupying Cuzco, and that his 
brother, Huascar Inca, was a prisoner there. This 
caused the Spanish general to delay his march upon 
the capital until fresh troops should arrive from the 
colony; and, to expedite their coming, he sent a courier 
to San Miguel, to inform the Spaniards there of his 
recent success, and to ascertain if there had been any 
arrivals from Panama. To keep his men employed, he 
made them repair the walls of Caxamalca, and convert 
one of the Indian buildings into a Christian church for 
the use of the troops. 

Of course, it was impossible for Atahuallpa to reside 
long among the Spaniards without discovering that 
the love of gold was stronger in their bosoms than 
either religion or ambition, and this he thought was 
his opportunity. So one day he told Pizarro that, if he 
would give him his liberty, he would cover the floor 
of a large room'"' in which they were sitting with gold. 
At this the Spaniards jDresent smiled incredulously, but 
the Inca, angry at their unbelief, stood on tiptoe, and 

* The apartment was about seventeen feet broad by twenty-two 
feet long, the line being nearly nine feet from the floor. 



ATAHUALLPA BARGAINS WITH PIZAEEO. 387 

stretching his hand up the wall (between eight and 
nine feet), said, " ISTot only will I cover the floor with 
gold, but fill the room as high as I now reach." 

Pizarro and his captains were more incredulous than 
ever; still, as the monarch was not to obtain his free- 
dom until after he had performed his promise, and the 
bargain would thus be a safe one, he acquiesced. A 
red line was drawn along the wall, and the terms duly 
recorded by the notary. He further agreed to fill an 
adjoining room of smaller dimensions twice full with 
silver — the time he required being only two months. 

Never was there a clearer or more definite arrange- 
ment. We shall see how it was kept on both sides. 

In order to perform his portion of the agreement, 
Atahuallpa at once sent couriers to Cuzco and other 
places, with orders that the golden ornaments and 
utensils should be removed from the royal palaces, 
temples, and other public buildings, and conveyed 
immediately to Caxamalca. When, however, the royal 
prisoner, Huascar, heard of his brother's capture, and 
his agreement with the Spaniards, he sent word to 
Pizarro that, if he would free him from captivity 
and reinstate him in his rights, he would pay a 
much larger sum than that promised by Atahu- 
allpa, who, never having lived in Cuzco, knew not 
where the treasure was deposited. The wily Spaniard, 
feeling that the two contending princes were in his 
power, declared that he would have Huascar brought 
before him, to examine into both their claims, and 
decide which had the best title to the sceptre. But 
information of this being conveyed to Atahuallpa, by 
those who had the unhappy Huascar in their keeping, 



,388 MURDER OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA. 

the former sent orders for his brother to be put to 
death. The unhappy prince was drowned; but with 
his dying words he declared that the white men would 
avenge his murder, and that his rival would not long 
survive him. When the news of Huascar's death was 
brought to Atahuallpa, he affected great sorrow and 
indignation as he imparted it to the Spanish chief. 
Pizarro bluntly told the Inca he did not believe it, and, 
moreover, that he, Atahuallpa, should be answerable 
for his brother's life. To which the monarch replied 
by an assurance that it was but too true, and that the 
deed had been committed, without his knowledge, by 
Huascar's jailers, who feared that prince might take 
advantage of the troubles of the country to make his 
escape; and with this Pizarro was obliged to rest 
content. 

After a few weeks, the promised ransom began to 
come in, being brought upon the backs of Indian 
porters. One day there came twenty-five pounds 
weight of gold; on another, articles to the value of 
30,000 or 40,000 pesos de oro; and upon others the 
value of 60,000 or 70,000. But although they had 
now ocular proof that the Inca would keep his pro- 
mise, they became more craving, and complaaned at the 
tardiness with which the treasure was brought; they 
even hinted their suspicions to the captive that he was 
causing the delay, and that by his orders his subjects 
were preparing to attack the Spaniards; nay, tJiey 
named Guamachucho, a neighbouring city, as the place 
of rendezvous chosen by the Indians. At this the 
astonished prince replied, " l^o one of my subjects 
would dare to appear in arms, or to raise a finger 



ENVOYS SENT TO CUZCO. 389 

witliout my orders. You have me in your power ; my 
life is at your disposal; wliat better security than that can 
you have for my fidelity ?" He then explained to them 
that the cause of the delay was the difficulty of car- 
riage, and the distances from which the treasure had to 
be brought, adding, " But that you may be satisfied I 
am proceeding in good faith, I desire you will send 
some of your own people to Cuzco, under a safe con- 
duct which I will give them. They can see the com- 
mission executed, and also that no hostile movement 
is intended." With this ofier the Spanish general was 
satisfied, and accordingly sent a party of soldiers to the 
capital. 

About the same time Hernando Pizarro, with twenty 
horse and some infantry, proceeded to reconnoitre the 
country around Guamachucho, to see if there was any 
truth in the rumour of the rising of the Indians. 
Finding all quiet, he advanced to Pachacamac, a city 
held sacred by the Peruvians, and named after Pacha- 
camac, the creator of the world. The result of this 
expedition, which lasted several weeks, was, that upon 
his return to Caxamalca, Hernando brought with him 
twenty-seven loads of gold and 2,000 marks of silver 
which he plundered from the great temple of this deity. 
While at the latter city Hernando heard that Ata- 
huallpa's great general, Challcuchima, was at a town 
about twenty leagues distance. With this chief he put 
himself into communication, and after some difficulty 
persuaded him to return with him to Caxamalca. Of 
the veneration with which the Inca was regarded by 
his nobles the Spaniards had now a proof. As the 
Indian general entered the town, he took from one of 



390 MUEDER OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA. 

his suite a small burden, wliicli lie placed upon his 
shoulders. The rest of the subordinate chiefs did the 
same, and thus, with bared feet, they entered the pre- 
sence of their captive king. 

" "Would that I had been here, this would not then 
have happened," said the old general, as he knelt down 
and kissed the hands of the Peruvian monarch. As for 
Atahuallpa, he betrayed not the least emotion, nor 
exhibited any other sign of satisfaction at the presence 
of his favourite noble than by bidding him welcome ; 
so immeasurable was the distance in rank between the 
Inca and even the most exalted and powerful of his 
vassals. 

Shortly after the arrival of Hernando Pizarro and 
the Indian general, those soldiers who had been sent 
to Cuzco also returned, bringing accounts of that capi- 
tal, which confirmed all that Pizarro had heard of the 
vast wealth of the city. The distance between Caxa- 
malca and Cuzco was 600 miles, yet the awe of the 
people was so great at the emissaries of the Inca, that 
the journey was performed with ease. Everywhere the 
Spaniards were kindly received, right through from 
town to town they were carried in' sedans upon the 
shoulders of the natives, relays of whom they found at 
regular stages in many places; indeed, they were re- 
garded by the simple Peruvians as gods, and in the 
capital itself they were sumptuously lodged, and received 
with public festivities. 

The stories they told of the wealth of Cuzco must 
have been regarded as fabulous by their companions. 
The great temple of the sun they found literally 
covered with plates of gold. They had entered the 



RUFFIANLY CONDUCT OF THE EMISSARIES. 391 

interior, and seen tlie royal mummies seated eacli in 
his gold embossed chair, and in robes profusely coYered 
with ornaments. These they respected, but they tore 
down from the walls and ceiling of the building 700 
of the golden plates. Then, although they were 
assisted in this by the Peruvians, who dared not dis- 
obey the order of their sovereign, the Spaniards com- 
plained that there were other buildings rich in the 
precious metals to which the people would not take 
them. But this was by no means the worst the natives 
had to bear, for these rapacious ruffians seized every 
valuable upon which they could lay their hands, treated 
the highest nobles with insolence, violated the privacy 
of the convents, and grossly insulted the virgins of the 
sun, a crime so heinous in the eyes of the Peruvians, 
that nothing but the reverence they had for the very 
name of the Inca saved the soldiers from destruction; 
and although Pizarro affected indignation at the con- 
duct of these men, the great treasure they brought 
with them to Caxamalca gained them an easy pardon. 
As time passed, and each day added to the ransom 
of gold and silver promised by the Inca, that prince 
reasonably expected soon to obtain his freedom. Un- 
fortunately however for him, in December, 1532, Alma- 
gro arrived at San Miguel with three vessels, fresh 
stores, 150 foot, and 50 horse. About the same time 
a meteor, some say a comet, was seen in the heavens 
and pointed out to Atahuallpa, who, having gazed at 
it for some time intently, said, that a similar sign had 
appeared a short time previous to the death of his 
father, Huayna Capac. From that moment he became 
melancholy and dejected, like one who had lost all 



392 MURDER OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA. 

hope. There can be little doubt, I think, that in the 
fresh arrivals he believed that the prophecy of the Inca 
Huayna Capac, of the downfall of his race and empire 
was about to be realized. 

The coming of these reinforcements v^as joyful news 
to Pizarro, for he now felt that he could with prudence 
complete his conquest by a march upon the capital. 
Accordingly, when the one-eyed old captain reached 
Caxamalca, forgetting his former jealousies, he gave 
him a warm reception. But not so with Hernando 
Pizarro ; that brilliant but wi-ong-headed chief regarded 
Almagro only as one who had come to claim a share 
in their plunder, and to defraud his brother of a por- 
tion of his honours ; therefore, when the captain at the 
first meeting proffered a frank and soldier-like greeting, 
Hernando stood sulkily aside. A quarrel fatal to the 
progress of the conquest might have ensued, but 
for the interference of Pizarro, who, the better to 
prevent such a misfortune, determined to send Her- 
nando to Spain with the royal fifth of the spoil, and to 
seek from the court a greater augmentation of their 
powers and dignities. 

Now, a great portion of the treasure being in the 
form of goblets, ewers, salvers, vases, and various 
plants of the most beautiful and artistic workmanship, 
a part of the royal fifth, to the value of about 100,000 
ducats, was reserved as a specimen of the ingenuity of 
the natives, and which Hernando was to carry to court 
intact; the remainder was melted down by the Indian 
goldsmiths into ingots of a uniform standard. This 
having been done, it was found that the gold amounted 
in value to a sum equivalent to three millions and a- 



IMMENSE BOOTY. 393 



half of OUT -present pounds sterling, while the silver 
was valued at 51,610 marks. "History," says the 
American historian, "affords no parallel of such a 
booty — and that, too, in the most convertible form, in 
ready money, as it were — having fallen to the lot of a 
little band of military adventurers, like the conqiierors 
of Peru. The great object of the Spanish expeditions 
in the New World was gold. It is remarkable that 
their success should have been so complete. Had they 
taken the track of the English, the French, or the 
Dutch, on the shores of the northern continent, how 
different would have been the result! It is equally 
worthy of remark, that the wealth thus suddenly 
acquired, by diverting them from the slow, but surer 
and more permanent, sources of national prosperity, 
has, in the end, glided from their grasp, and left them 
among the poorest of the nations of Christendom." 

As might have been anticipated, the difficulty in the 
division of the booty was increased by the arrival of 
Almagro and his followers; but, after much disputa- 
tion, they agreed to resign their pretensions for a 
stipulated amount, and look to the career before them 
to carve out fortunes for themselves. This being 
settled, and the royal fifth deducted, the remainder 
was shared as follows: — 100,000 pesos to Almagro, 
and 20,000 to his men. Pizarro received 57,222 pesos, 
and 2,350 marks of silver; besides this, he had the 
golden throne of the Incas, valued at 25,000 pesos. 
Hernando received 31,080 pesos, and 2,350 marks of 
silver. De Soto, 17,740 pesos of gold, and 1,724 marks 
of silver. The horsemen received 8,880 pesos, and 362 
marks of silver. One-fifth of the infantry received, 



394 MURDER OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA. 

eacli man, 4,440 pesos, and 180 marks of silver; the 
remainder one-fourth part less. After the sharing of 
the plunder and the departure of Hernando Pizarro for 
the court of Spain, the two leaders became impatient to 
advance to Cuzco. To this, however, there was one 
obstacle — Atahuallpa. If they liberated him, they 
would be setting free a dangerous enemy, while to 
retain him in captivity required a guard so large that 
it would weaken their little force. It was true that 
the Inca, having kept his promise, should, in all 
honesty, have been released; but then, neither honesty 
nor honour were likely to be considered by Spaniards 
when acting as obstructions to wealth and ambition. 
Thus Pizarro satisfied himself by causing it to be pro- 
claimed, that he acquitted Atahuallpa of all further 
obligations, although, at the same time, he declared that 
the safety of his army made it necessary he should be 
still kept in captivity, until further reinforcements had 
arrived from Spain. But the infamy of the Spaniards 
was to culminate in the assassination of the poor sove- 
reign j and thus it came about. 

Atahuallpa discovering that Felipillo, the interpreter 
of Pizarro, entertained a passion for one of his wives, 
felt himself so outraged that he sent for the Spanish 
chief " This insult," said the monarch, " offered by so 
base a person, is more difficult to bear than imprison- 
ment, and by the law of Peru can be expiated by the 
death, not alone of this criminal, but of the whole of his 
kindred." Pizarro attempted to soothe the Inca, but 
declined to deliver Pelipillo over to punishment. This 
interview coming to the ears of the dastardly Peruvian, 
he from that moment regarded his captive sovereign 



ATAHUALLPA ACCUSED OF TREACHERY. 395 

•with a deadly hatred^ and sought every means by 
which he might encompass his death. Probably know- 
ing that his masters, the Spaniards, only sought an 
excuse to rid themselves of their royal incumbrance, he 
set afloat a rumour that, by the secret commands of 
Atahuallpa, a large army was being mustered in Quito 
for the destruction of the foreigners. Affecting to 
believe this, Pizarro proceeded to the Inca's apartments 
and reproached him with his treachery. " What trea- 
son is this," said the general, " that you are meditat- 
ing against me — me who have ever treated you with 
honour, confiding in your words as in those of a 
brother?" 

" You are jesting, you are mocking me," replied the 
astonished prince, "you are always jesting with me 
thus. How could I or my people think of conspiring 
against men so valiant as the Spaniards'?" Pizarro 
replied by sending at once for a chain, which he 
ordered to be put round the neck of the Inca. It 
was the last insult that could be offered to the sun- 
descended Atahuallpa, Still, he endeavoured to prove 
his innocence. "Am I not," said he, "a poor captive 
in your power 1 How could I harbour the treachery 
you impute to me when I should be the first victim 
of the outbreak ? And you little know my people if 
you think that such a movement would be made with- 
out my orders, when the very birds in my dominions 
would scarcely venture to fly contrary to my will." 
It is probable Pizarro believed these protestations, for 
notwithstanding his army clamoured for his death, he 
declined to proceed to such an extremity untO. he had 
first sent Hernando de Soto, at the head of a detach- 



396 MURDER OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA. 

ment^ to reconnoitre the country where it was rumoured 
the Peruvians were assembling in force. 

Scarcely, however, had De Soto gone forth, than 
many of the Spaniards demanded the instant death of 
the Inca as necessary to their safety. The most vehe- 
ment were Almagro and his followers. These men 
having received so small a share of the plunder, re- 
garded the monarch as an encumbrance which delayed 
the progress of their fortunes. Pizarro, after much 
afiected reluctance — it could only have been simulated, 
for he was not the man to permit his authority to be 
tampered with — complied. But, as the murder of a 
sovereign, albeit only an Indian, might become the 
subject of an inquiry at the court of Spain, he ordered 
that he should pass through a trial. How wicked and 
absurd a mockery this was is shown by the fact that 
the judges were Almagro and Pizarro, and from the 
charges, which were as follows : — Having usurped the 
crown and assassinated his brother; having squandered 
the public revenue since the conquest of the country 
by the Spaniards; being guilty of idolatry; having a 
plurality of wives; and, lastly, attempting to excite an 
insurrection against the Spaniards. 

The result is easily guessed. He was found guilty, 
condemned to he burned alive in the great square 
of Caxamalca, and the sentence was to be executed 
that same night, even before the return of De Soto, 
who would assuredly bring information as to the truth 
or falsehood of the chief charge against him. History 
records no greater villany than this. Still, among 
even those barbarous Spaniards, there were some who 
endeavoured to save the miserable king; in the first 



MURDER OF THE INCA. 307 

place, by denying the authority of such a tribunal to 
sit in judgment on a sovereign prince in the heart of 
his own dominions; secondly, by insisting that if he 
were to be tried, he should be sent before the Emperor 
of Spain, who alone had the power. The men, how- 
ever, who thus protested were but as one to ten, to 
those who were clamouring for his death, and so the 
sentence was confirmed. 

So astounded was the miserable monarch at these 
proceedings that for a time he was unmanned, and, 
with tears in his eyes, he said to Pizarro, " What have 
I or my children done that I should meet such a fate? 
and from your hands, you who have met with friend- 
ship and kindness from my people, with whom I have 
shared my treasures, who have received from me 
nothing but benefits." Then promising any guaran- 
tee that might be required for the safety of every 
Spaniard in the army, and promising double the ran- 
som he had already paid, he begged for his life in such 
piteous tones, that even Pizarro, it is said, turned away 
with tears in his eyes — such tears, I should think, as 
crocodiles are said to shed. 

At the second hour after sunset, the Spanish army 
assembled by torch light in the great square to witness 
the murder. The Peruvian sovereign was led out, 
chained hand and foot, accompanied by Father Yicente 
de Yalverde, who was endeavouring to persuade him to 
embrace the religion of his murderers. For a loDg time 
the Father failed to make any impression upon the 
poor monarch. When, however, Atahuallpa was tied 
to the stake, with the faggots and oil around that were 
to kindle his funeral pile, Yalverde, holding up the cross, 



398 MURDER OF THE INC A ATAHUALLPA. 

begged liini to embrace it and be baptized, promising 
that by so doing the painful death to which he had 
been sentenced should be commuted for the milder 
form of strangulation by the garotte. The miserable 
prince consented, and was baptized by the name of 
Don Juan de Atahuallpa; then having commended his 
children to the care of the Spanish general, the priest 
offered up to heaven a prayer for his soul, and at the 
same time he was strangled by a bow-string. Thus, by 
a death which in Spain would have been awarded to 
the vilest of thieves, died the conqueror Atahuallpa, 
who, as the princes who succeeded him were but the 
nominees of the Spaniards, may be termed the last of 
the god-descended Incas of Peru. 

The following morning the obsequies were performed 
with great solemnity in the Church of San Francisco. 
As, however. Father Valverde was reading the service 
for the dead, the doors of the church were suddenly 
thrown open, and a number of the women of the 
deceased monarch's family rushed up the aisle towards 
the corpse. "This is not the way to celebrate the 
funeral rites of an Inca," they exclaimed; further 
declaring that they intended to sacrifice themselves on 
his tomb, and bear him company to the land of sjnrits; 
and when the Spaniards said their prince had died in^ 
the faith of the Christians, whose God abhorred such 
sacrifices, the poor women fled in despair to their own 
quarters, where many killed themselves, in the hope of 
accompanying their beloved lord to the mansions of 
the sun. 

From the haste with which the mock trial and 
assassination of Atahuallpa was carried out, there can 



DE SOTO'S INDIGNATION- AT THE MURDEK. 399 

be no doubt tliat Hernando de Soto, who was knoAvn 
to befriend tlie captive sovereign, had been sent npon 
the reconnoitring expedition for the express purpose of 
getting him out of the way. When that captain 
returned, so great was his astonishment and indigna- 
tion at the crime committed, that he at once sought 
the presence of the general, whom he found "with a 
great felt hat, by way of mourning, slouched over his 
eyes, and in his dress and demeanour exhibiting all the 
show of sorrow." 

'•'You have acted rashly," said the indignant and 
fearless De Soto. " Atahuallpa has been basely slan- 
dered. There was no enemy at Guamachucho; no 
rising among the natives. I have met with nothing 
on the road but demonstrations of good -will, and all is 
quiet. If it were necessary to bring the Inca to trial, 
he should have been taken to Castile and judged by 
the emperor. I would have pledged myself to see him 
safe on board the vessel." 

Pizarro very candidly admitted that he had been too 
precipitate; but then, he said, he had been deceived 
by Yalverde and others.- The general's mean excuse 
coming to the ears of the latter, they sought his pre- 
sence, and upbraided him to his face as the only one 
responsible for the deed. 

" The treatment of Atahuallpa, from first to last," 
writes Prescott, " forms undoubtedly one of the dark- 
est chapters in Spanish colonial history. There may 
have been massacres perpetrated on a more extended 
scale, and executions accompanied with a greater re- 
finement of cruelty; but the blood-stained annals of 
the conquest afford no such example of cold-hearted 
2d 



400 MURDER OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA. 

and systematic persecntiou, not of an enemy, but of 
one whose whole deportment had been that of a friend 
and a benefactor. 

" From the hour that Pizarro and his followers had 
entered within the sphere of Atahuallpa's influence, 
the hand of friendship had been extended to them by 
the natives. Their first act, on crossing the mountains, 
was to kidnap the monarch and massacre his people. 
The seizure of his person might be vindicated by those 
who considered the end as justifying the means, on the 
ground that it was indispensable to secure the triumj^hs 
of the Cross. But no such apology can be urged for 
the massacre of the unarmed and helpless population, — 
as wanton as it was wicked. 

" The long confinement of the Inca had been used 
by the conquerors to wring from him his treasures 
with the hard gripe of avarice. During the whole 
of this dismal period he had conducted himself with 
singular generosity and good faith. He had opened a 
free passage to the Spaniards through every part of 
his empire, and had furnished every facility for the 
execution of their plans. When these were accom- 
plished, and he remained an encumbrance on their 
hands, notwithstanding their engagement, expressed, 
or implied, to release him — and Pizarro, as we have 
seen, by a formal act acquitted his captive of any 
further obligation on the score of the ramsom — he was 
arraigned before a mock tribunal, and, under pretences 
equally false and frivolous, was condemned to an ex- 
cruciating death. Prom first to last the policy of the 
Spanish conquerors towards their unhappy victim is 
stamped with barbarity and fraud." 



401 



CHAPTER YIII. 



THE MAECH TO CUZCO. 



PiZARRo's next step, after the murder of Atahuallpa, 
was to set up in his place a puppet, in whose name he 
could better govern the Peruvians. Manco Capac, the 
legitimate brother of the unfortunate Huascar was the 
next heir, but fearing the disposition of that prince, the 
Spanish chief placed the imperial horla upon the brows 
of Toparca, a younger brother of Atahuallpa. The 
coronation having been performed according to the 
laws and customs of Peru, the Spaniards set out for 
Cuzco, accompanied by the new Inca and the old 
general, Challcuchima. For some days their march 
was unmolested: no enemy was to be seen. Upon 
their arrival at Xauxa, a large town in a valley, they 
found themselves in the neighbourhood of a great body 
of warriors. At this place Pizarro halted, for the pur- 
pose of founding a Spanish colony; and as he intended 
to remain there some days, he sent De Soto, with sixty 
horse, to reconnoitre the movements of the Peruvian 
troops. That the country had been recently occupied 
by a determined enemy De Soto soon saw; for, at 
rapid intervals, he found the debris of burned villages, 
the ruins of bridges, and heavy rocks and trees strewn 
across the path, to obstruct the advance of cavalry. 



402 THE MARCH TO CUZCO. 

But soon he and liis party were set upon by well- 
trained native warriors, who fought with such des- 
perate valour that the Christians rejoiced at the 
coming of night, which stayed the combat. In this 
action several Spaniards and horses were slain; one 
man had his head cloven to the chin by a Peruvian 
battle-axe. So unexpected was this defeat, that the 
gallant De Soto, who would not return to his chief 
without victory upon his helm, had no little difficulty 
in keeping up the spirits of his men. The news of 
this defeat being carried to head-quarters, Pizzaro at 
once despatched Almagro, with all the remaining 
cavalry, to De Soto's aid. For some reason — it is not 
stated what; but probably because of the good dis- 
cipline and steady valour of the troops that had 
attacked De Soto — Pizarro felt convinced that some 
one of the leading Peruvian chiefs was organizing an 
armed resistance on the road to the capital. It might 
be Atahuallpa's victorious old general, Challcuchima ; 
at least the probability formed sufficient excuse for the 
cruelty he meditated. So, proceeding to the old chief's 
quarters, Pizarro charged him with the conspiracy, and 
declared that, if he did not cause the Peruvians to lay 
down their arms and tender their submission at once, 
he would have him burned alive as soon as they had 
reached the quarters of Almagro, where they were then 
marching. The brave old man heard this terrible 
threat without moving a muscle, and, denying the 
charge, said that, prisoner as he was, he could have no 
power to bring his countrymen to submission. Pizarro, 
finding he could elicit no more, caused him to be put 
in irons and placed under a strong guard. Before quit- 






MUEDER OF CHALLCUCIIIMxi. 403 

ting XaiTxa a misfortune happened to the Spaniards 
in the shape of the sudden death of Toparca. I say a 
misfortune; for Pizarro found that it was all important 
for the conquest that he should have beneath his thumb 
a scion of the Inca blood, who, while subservient to 
him, would hold such a semblance of power that the 
people would not dare attempt further resistance. It is 
said that this young sovereign died from grief at the ruin 
of his family and people. An anecdote of his corona- 
tion is told as follows : — After the horla of the Incas 
had been placed upon his brow, he was no sooner out 
of Pizarro's presence than, tearing the royal emblem 
from his forehead, he threw it on the ground, and, 
stamping upon it, declared he would never wear a 
thing which he could not but regard as a mark of his 
slavery and shame. Plis most devoted followers en- 
deavoured to conquer this resolution; but they did so 
in vain ; and, in two months after he had received his 
brother's crown from that same brother's murderer, he 
expired. 

After Pizarro had joined Almagro, the united forces 
marched to Xaquixaguana, a- valley about five leagues 
from Cuzco. At this place the dismal and cruel farce 
of putting Challcuchima through a mock trial was per- 
formed, and the brave old chief, the best beloved and 
most victorious of Atahuallpa's generals, was burned 
alive. He died as he had lived, with unflinching cour- 
age, scorning the Christians and the faith they desired 
him to embrace, and in the midst of his tortures in- 
voking the name of his god, Pachacamac. 

Soon after this last murder, Pizarro received a visit 
from Manco Capac, the brother of the unfortunate 



4.0 i THE MARCH TO CUZCO. 

Huascar, and the legitimate heir to the throne. This 
prince told the general that he had intended to oppose 
his march upon Cuzco, but finding resistance useless, 
he had now come to welcome the Spaniards, and claim 
their assistance in establishing him upon the throne of 
his ancestors. Believing that in the youthful prince 
before him he saw a better tool than the young Inca 
who had so recently died would have been, PizaiTO 
received Manco with great cordiality, even assuring 
him — lying was so common with these Christian 
hidalgos, that one could almost imagine that Spanish 
chivalry numbered it among their virtues — that he had 
been sent into Peru by his master, the Castilian sove- 
reign, in order to vindicate the claims of his brother, 
Huascar, to the crown, and to punish the usurpation of 
his rival, Atahuallpa. 

Taking with them Manco Capac, the Spaniards now 
marched on Cuzco, and after some little but sharp 
fighting on the road, they entered that capital upon 
the fifteenth day of November, 1533. 

We may imagine the delight of this band of marau- 
ders as they came upon the Eldorado of which they 
had heard such wonderful accounts — the holy city of 
the Incas, the metropolis of the Peruvian empire. The 
population, including its suburbs, reached 400,000 — a 
busy, industi-ious, and highly civilized people. The 
best houses, or palaces, and public buildings were built 
of stone, some of tinted marble. The edifice which 
must have first attracted the notice of the soldiers, if, 
indeed, their greedy eyes could rest upon anything but 
gold, was the fortress which was erected upon the top 
of a high hill to the north-east. At the base of this hill. 



cuzco. 405 

upon the outer side, it was defended by three walls, 
rising one above the other in the shape of crescents. 
These walls were mounted with ramparts and breast- 
works, so that the Peruvians could fight under them, 
and the narrowest was wide enough for three carriages 
abreast. The chief points of the fortress were three 
great towers, which were connected by subterranean 
passages, and the ground beneath them was hollowed 
out into as many rooms and galleries as there were 
above. In the largest of these towers was a fountain ; 
but the sources by which the water was supplied was 
a state secret, only known to the Inca and a few of his 
chief nobles. The citadel was so large that after the 
conquest the Spaniards found there was room enough 
to lodge 5,000 soldiers. Many of the stones of which 
the walls were formed were fifty feet long, twenty-two 
feet broad, and six feet thick j indeed, of such immense 
size and weight were they, that to the present day it 
remains a wonder by what means they could have been 
placed upon each other ; for the Peruvians, as far as we 
now know, were ignorant of modern mechanical appli- 
ances by which huge masses are moved. 

Mr. Arthur Helps, describing this city from the 
Spanish writers, tells us "the streets were at right 
angles to one another, and thus the city was formed 
into those blocks of building which the Pomans called 
insulse. The pavement was made of small stones, and 
a large conduit of water passed through the middle of 
each street. There was a great square in which stood 
the palace of the great Inca, Huayna Capac, the most 
beautiful building in Cuzco, its gateway being made of 
marble of different colours. This palace was so exfcen- 



406 THE MARCH TO CUZCO. 

sive tliat it was afterwards divided into many shares 
for the chief conquerors. Adjacent to it were three 
other palaces, painted on the outside and richly decor- 
ated with sculpture. There were also three covered 
buildings resembling the loggie in Florence ; these stood 
upon terraces, and were for the purpose of celebrating 
great festivals in bad weather, Their size may be con- 
jectured from the fact, that a fourth loggia in another 
quarter of the town afterwards formed a large church. 
There is no capital in Europe that has been constructed 
on so grand a plan. Cuzco was, as it were, a micro- 
cosm of the whole empire. As the men of difierent 
tribes came up from Antisuyo, Condesuyo, Collasuyo, 
Chinchasuyo, they ranged themselves in the outskirts 
adjacent to the four quarters of the town correspond- 
ing with these four divisions of the empire, and each 
took up its position as nearly as possible in the same 
geographical order which it held in its own country. 
The tribe that was to the north of it, in its own coun- 
try, was to the north of it also in Cuzco. Each tribe 
had an especial head-dress, and was discernible from 
all the rest, either by a difference in the colour of the 
sash wound round the head, or by a difference in the 
colour of the feathers. The Inca, in traversing his 
city, was thus enabled to review every section of his 
empire, and to recognize the inhabitants of each dis- 
trict at a glance. 

" Some of the principal quarters were named ' The 
Place of the Great Snakes,' ' The Place of Proclama- 
tions,' ' The Street of Gillyflowers,' ' The Ward of the 
Post of Lions,' ' The Ward of the Lion's Tail' 

" Two streams entered Cuzco and traversed the city. 



RAPACITY OF THE SPANIARDS. 407 

They entered under bridges witli floodgates, to prevent 
inundation. These streams, in their passage through 
the city, had beds of masonry to run in, so that the 
water might always be clear and clean. One of the 
streams passed through the great square." 

The most sumptuous building, however, in the Peru- 
vian capital, was the great temple of the sun. This 
was the chief of those public erections from which the 
soldiers sent to obtain Atahuallpa's ransom had rifled 
the golden plates. At the time, therefore, of the arrival 
of Pizarrb in the capital, nothing of its exterior orna- 
ments remained, but the golden frieze which those men 
had been unable to remove from its bedding between 
the stones. 

Upon the entrance of the army into the city, the 
general had issued an order forbidding any man to 
off'er violence to the dwellings of the people. It was a 
strange command, after the example he had set them. 
But, doubtlessly, they knew Pizarro had done this 
more to make the Inca and the people believe that he 
was their friend than with any notion that-it would 
be obeyed. Por to obtain gold they had ventured 
their lives, and gold they would have at all risks. 
Thus they lost no time iii plundering the palaces and 
religious buildings of their contents. They stripped 
ofi' the jewels and rich ornaments that decorated the 
royal mummies; they tortured the citizens whom they 
suspected of hiding their treasures; they rifled the 
sepulchres, and dug up the bodies from their graves, 
because they knew the Peruvians frequently buried 
treasure with their dead. Like famished beasts, prowl- 
ing about for a meal, these Christian soldiers searched 



408 THE MARCH TO CUZCO. 

and examined every hole and corner : not a nook could 
escape their fierce searching eyes. Thus they some- 
times fell in with a mine of wealth. In one cave, near 
the city, they discovered many vases of pure gold, 
richly embossed with figures of serpents, locusts, and 
other animals ; four golden llamas, and ten or twelve 
life-sized statues of women, of pure gold, and as beau- 
tiful and well wrought as if they had been alive. We 
can well believe the naive assertion of one of the 
plunderers, " that the sight of these things was truly 
a great satisfaction." Then, again, they met with 
magazines or warehouses of richly- tinted robes, gold 
sandals, and slippers for women, dresses composed en- 
tirely of beads of gold. There were also stores of 
grain and other food in abundance; but these were 
regarded with contempt. Yet the time came when 
the latter would have been of greater value to them 
than the gold. 

At one place they found ten planhs of solid silver, 
each piece being twenty feet in length, one foot in 
breadth, and two or three inches thick, which were in- 
tended to decorate the house of a noble. The amount 
of this plunder is said to have exceeded the ransom of 
Atahuallpa. The effect this siidden influx of wealth 
had upon these marauders is thus graphically told by 
Prescott :— 

"It supplied them with the means of gaming, so 
strong and common a passion with the Spaniards that 
it may be considered a national vice. Fortunes were 
lost and won in a single day, sufficient to render the 
proprietors independent for life ; and many a desperate 
gamester, by an unlucky throw of the dice, or turn of 



A SURFEIT OF PLUNDEE. 409 

the cards^ saw himself stripped in a few liours of the 
fruits of years of toil, and obliged to begin over again 
the business of rapine. Among these, one in the 
cavalry service is mentioned, named Leguizano, who 
had received as his share in the booty the image of the 
sun, which, raised on a plate of burnished gold, spread 
over the walls in a recess of the great temple, and 
which, for some reason or other— perhaps because of 
its superior fineness — was not recast like the other 
ornaments. This rich prize the spendthrift lost in a 
single night; whence it came to be a proverb in Spain : 
Juega el Sol antes que amanezca — ' Play away the sun 
before sunrise.' 

" The effect of such a surfeit of the precious metals 
was instantly felt on prices, The most ordioary ar- 
ticles were only to be had for exorbitant sums. A 
quire of paper sold for 10 pesos de oro; a bottle of 
wine for 60; a sword for 40 or 50; a cloak for 100, 
sometimes more ; a pair of shoes cost 30 or 40 pesos de 
oro ; and a good horse could not be had for less than 
2,500. Some brought a still higher price. Every 
article rose in value as gold and silver, the representa- 
tives of all, declined. Gold and silver, in short, seemed 
to be the only things in Cuzco that were not wealth. 
Yet there were some few wise enough to return con- 
tented with their present gains to their native country. 
Here their riches brought them consideration and com- 
petence; and, while they excited the envy of their 
countrymen, stimulated them to seek their own for- 
tunes in the like path of adventure." 

The booty being divided, Pizarro ordered the Peru- 
vian idols to be pulled down, placed crosses in the 



410 THE MARCH TO CUZCO. 

highways, built a church, and then took possession of 
the city in the name of his sovereign, the Em];)eror 
Charles Y. This being done, he caused Manco Capac 
to be crowned the Inca of Peru, under the supre- 
macy of the sovereign of Castile. At this coronation 
the mummies of the Incas, each attended by his own 
numerous retinue, as if he had been alive, were brought 
into the great square and seated at the banqueting 
table. The guests drank long and deeply to the royal 
dead, concluding by dancing and other festivities, 
which were prolonged to a late hour. The Inca being 
enthroned, Pizarro established a civil government of 
Spaniards, and invited others of his countrymen to 
come and settle. Yalverde assumed the rank and title 
of Bishop of Cuzco, and, with a band of Dominican 
friars, set earnestly about the work of conversion. As 
for Pizarro, he henceforth took upon himself the state 
and title of " Governor." 

While thus settling the conquest, he received news 
that Quizquiz, another of the great generals of Atahu- 
allpa, was in the field with a large army. He there- 
fore lost no time in sending Almagro and the new 
Inca to meet him. The Spanish captain and his ally 
speedily routed the enemy and slew its general. But 
scarcely had this Peruvian army been defeated than 
news arrived at Cuzco equally alarming both to Pizarro 
and Almagro. This was the arrival in the country of 
another body of Spaniards under the command of one 
of Cortes' most famous leaders, Pedro de Alvarado, 
who had quitted his post of Governor of Guatemala to 
seek a share of those riches of Peru about which, by 
this time, every colonist in the New World had heard 



TREATY WITH ALVARADO. 411 

Alvarado brouglit with, him 500 men : it was de- 
sirous, therefore, that he should he either won over or 
conquered. Pizarro, without loss of time, and with 
the hope of preventing him from coming so far into the 
country that he could see the wealth to be obtained, 
sent AlmagTO to meet their countrymen. Fortunately 
for the partners, Alvarado choosing as his line of march 
Quito, in order to avoid the territories of Pizarro and 
Almagro, his troops had endured such hardships from 
cold and hunger, that he was ready to come to terms. 
To what extent they suffered may be imagined when, 
having secured at one place on their march a vast 
amount of gold, they regarded it not, and at Alvarado's 
desire that each man should take his own share, they 
replied, " that food was the only gold for them." 

The treaty agreed to between these two high con- 
tracting marauders was, that Almagro should pay Al- 
varado 100,000 pesos de oro, in consideration of which 
the latter was to resign to him his fleet, his forces, and 
all his stores and munitions of war. As, however, 
Almagro had no money with him, it was further agreed 
that Alvarado should have an interview with Pizarro. 

The meeting took place at Pachacamac, and was 
conducted with a great show of friendship on both 
sides, although amongst those treacherous men there 
were some who proposed to the governor to violate the 
treaty, seize the person of Alvarado, and so avoid pay- 
ing the 100,000 pesos. But this time Pizarro resolved 
to show that sometimes the old adage is right, and that 
there really is honour among thieves. 

After the departure of Tonatiuh, or " Child of 
the Sun," as you will remember the Mexicans called 



412 THE MARCH TO CUZCO. 

the liglit-complexioned, red-haired Alvarado, Pizan'O 
founded the city of Lima (January 6, 1535). While 
the governor remained at his new city, he persuaded 
Almagro to accept, under him, the government of 
Cuzco, and afc the same time, either by himself or his 
captains, to undertake the discovery and conquest of 
Chili. 

"We will now return to Hernando Pizarro. That 
captain reached the Court of Spain in January, 1534, 
where he was honourably received by the Emperor 
Charles, who regarded the conquest of Peru as far 
more important than that of Mexico, and with some 
reason, for the booty served to replenish his treasury, 
which was kept at a low ebb by his continual Euro- 
pean wars. Charles testified his gratitude by creating 
Francisco Pizarro Marquis of Atavillos, a valley near 
to Xauxa, making Hernando a knight of Santiago, one 
of the noblest orders of Spain. To Yincente de Yal- 
verde was given the bishopric of Cuzco, and to Alma- 
gro an independent governorship, which was to com- 
mence where Pizarro's ended. Moreover, the emperor 
sent each of the commanders an autograph letter of 
thanks for their great services. In return for these 
gracious gifts, Hernando promised to induce the Span- 
iards in Peru to give, in addition to the royal fifth oi 
their spoil, a large donation of gold — a present that 
would prove most acceptable to Charles, whose trea- 
sury was much reduced by his European wars. When 
Hernando again sailed from Spain, such had been the 
efiect of the sight of the Peruvian riches which he 
had brought with him, that he was accompanied by 
the largest and best appointed fleet that had set out 



MEETING OF PIZARKO AND ALMAGRO. 413 

for the New World since the time of Ferdinand and 
Isabella. When he arrived at Nombre de Dios he 
found no preparations had been made for his coming. 
He was therefore compelled to remain there for some 
time before he could prudently pass the mountains. 
Taking advantage of this delay, one of Almagro's par- 
tizans hastened in advance to report to that chief (he 
was now called the Marshal) the news of the governor- 
ship that had been granted him by his sovereign. This 
man reached Almagro just as he was entering Cuzco to 
take possession. Juan and Gonzalo Pizarro, who had 
jointly governed in the absence of their brother the 
general, readily resigned their command; the Marshal, 
however, elated at the government bestowed upon him 
by his sovereign, and remembering the undue share 
of honours and powers Francisco Pizarro had obtained 
from the court of Spain, declared that Cuzco came 
within the limits of the territories assigned to him by 
the crown, and therefore he would govern that city 
independently of the newly created marquis. More- 
over, puffed up by the adulation and advice of his 
followers, so highly did he lord it over the two Pizarros, 
that dissensions arose which called for the intervention 
of the marquis. The latter, fearing to lose the all- 
important city, came from Lima with haste. An 
hypocritical scene took place at the meeting of the old 
comrades. They embraced with many tears. " You 
have made me," said the Marquis, " take this hasty and 
toilsome journey, without bringing bed or tent, and but 
little food. Where was your judgment in quarrelling 
with my brothers, knowing, as you do, that you share 
equally with me in all things?" 



414 THE MARCH TO CUZCO. 

"You need not have come," replied Almagro, "since 
I sent you the particulars of all that had passed ; but 
the jealousy of your brothers at the honour conferred 
upon me by our sovereign is intolerable." A dispute 
then arose; but, through the intervention of a mutual 
friend, was brought to an amicable termination. The 
Marquis and the Marshal entered into a solemn agree- 
ment to keep their friendship inviolable, stipulating 
that in their letters to the emperor neither should 
disparage the other, nor should either hold any commu- 
nication with the government of Spain without the 
knowledge of his friend: moreover, the profits and 
expenditure of all future discoveries or conquests should 
be equally shared. To this each swore, standing before 
the altar, and invoking upon himself perdition of soul, 
loss of life, fame, honour, and estates, if he should 
break the compact. The oath was taken in the pre- 
sence of their officers, the priest performing mass, and 
the two governors placing their right hands above the 
consecrated hand of the priest which held the most 
holy sacrament. Thus did these two old men and 
comrades, by the solemn ceremony of "dividing the 
host," as it was called, and by religion, seek to cement a 
friendship their want of honour and principle rendered 
impossible. 

This treaty being duly drawn up by the king's 
notary, the Marshal began his preparations for the 
conquest of Chili; and so profuse, lavish, and generous 
was he of money, corn, and horses, that the bravest and 
best of the Spaniards in Peru flocked to his standard. 
Before, however, he departed from Cuzco, Almagro 
implored the Marquis to send his brothers back to 



THE CITY OP THE KINGS. 415 

Castile. " If you will do this," said he, " you may give 
them any amount of wealth from the joint estate; for, 
relying upon their kindred to you, there is no one these 
gentlemen will not insult." This request, however, 
Pizarro wisely parried by an evasive reply ; for to have 
complied would have been to have sent from his side 
his best and most devoted friends and officers, those, 
moreover, whose interests were in common with his 
own. 

When the Marshal had set out to conquer and settle 
the territories which he was to govern under the name 
of New Toledo, while those of Pizarro were called New 
Castile, the latter, leaving his brothers, Juan and 
Gonzalo, in charge of Cuzco, returned to superintend 
the building of his new city of Lima. This place, 
which then bore the name of Los Reyes — " The City of 
the Kings," still exists, as a monument of the almost 
sole glorious and commendable work of the chief of the 
cruel conquerors and devastators of the empire of the 
Incas. 



2 E 



416 



CHAPTER IX. 



TnE SPANIARDS IN CUZCO. 



When rogues quarrel among themselves, honest men 
have a chance of obtaining their rights. So thought 
the Peruvian chiefs. Their sovereign had been 
murdered, their countrymen hacked to pieces by thou- 
sands, the survivors reduced to slavery, their heaven- 
descended aristocracy brought upon a par with 
peasants, plundered of their wealth, their palaces 
seized, their religion profaned, their temples turned into 
stables, the royal residences into barracks, the seclu- 
sion of their convents violated, and the virgins of the 
sun grossly insulted; a favourite wife even of their 
Inca, Manco Capac, had been seized by a Spanish 
officer; and, lastly, the latter prince was, upon every 
occasion, treated with the most contemptuous indif- 
ference. It was scarcely to be wondered at, therefore, 
that the Peruvians should have taken advantage of the 
quarrel between Almagro and the brothers of Pizari'O to 
rid themselves for ever of the hated Spaniards. The 
young Inca and the high priest, Yillac XJmu, were at 
the head of the conspiracy. Their plan was, when 
Almagro had departed with his forces from the city, to 
assault the invaders at their several ports, and thus 
destroy them before fresh reinforcements should arrive. 



ARRIVAL OF HERNANDO PIZARRO. 417 

In order that a general risiDg of the people might take 
place simultaneously, the Inca persuaded Almagro to 
take with him his brother, Paullo Topa, and the high 
priest, Yillac Umu. The proposed object of their 
accompanying the Marshal was as guides, and to assist 
him with their advice; the real one, to co-operate 
with their countrymen on the march, and then secretly 
to return and take part in the insurrection. The 
better to carry out their schemes, it became necessary 
for the Inca to leave the city and hold communication 
with his people without. This the Spanish leader, 
who held the Peruvian chief in contempt, permitted 
him to do j but scarcely had he left, when the head of 
the Canars, a tribe hostile to Manco Capac, informed the 
Pizarros of the Inca's real object in leaving, whereupon 
Juan, putting himself at the head of a body of horse, 
went in pursuit. The prince being overtaken a short 
distance from Cuzco, was brought back and placed 
under a strong guard in the fortress. Thus all hope of 
success seemed crushed, and the miserable Indians 
could only express their disappointment in doleful 
ballads, which told the sad story of the captivity of 
their sovereign and the ruin of his race. 

While these events had been transpiring in and near 
the capital, Hernando Pizarro had arrived at Lima 
with the patents which put Francisco in official posses- 
sion of a marquisate and territorial power, and created 
Almagro Governor of New Toledo. Without these 
documents the rank and powers of the two governors 
had only been elect, and so Almagro was in reality 
not independent of the Marquis; therefore, the latter 
determined that, until the city of Cuzco had become 



418 THE SPANIARDS IN CUZCO. 

indisputably within tlie territory assigned to liim, he 
would not forward to the Marshal his commission; for, 
being then engaged in the conquest of Chili, his 
attention was diverted from Cuzco, and Pizarro in- 
tended it should so remain until Hernando, the 
cleverest of his brothers, had supreme command of 
that capital. 

Hernando Pizarro had many faults. He possessed, 
however, the virtue — a rare one among the Spaniards 
— of a friendship for, and a desire to do justice, at least 
to a certain extent, to the Indians. It is said that 
had he remained in the camp the unhappy Atahuallpa 
would not have been murdered. That the Inca be- 
lieved him to be his friend and protector seems cer- 
tain; for, when he heard that he was about leaving 
Peru for Spain, he sadly said, — "That in his absence 
his life would not be safe, for he knew that the ' one- 
eyed man,' Almagro, would encompass his death." So 
when, upon his arrival in Cuzco, Hernando heard that 
Manco Capac was imjDrisoned for conspiring against 
the Spaniards, he expressed his disbelief, and not only 
released the Inca but admitted him to an intimacy 
with himself. One might therefore complain at the 
ungrateful return made by that prince, could we forget 
the terrible injuries he and his had suffered from the 
Spaniards. The Inca, again at liberty, set on foot 
plans for a rising of his people, and so craftily and 
secretly did he conduct them that his enemies enter- 
tained no suspicion of his j^roceedings. He had studied 
sufficiently the character of Hernando to be aware that 
the weakest side of his character was avarice. Thus, 
when the wily Indian had obtained his confidence, he 



ESCAPE OF MANGO CAPAC. 419 

told him that lie knew of many secret places where 
great 'treasures were hidden, and of one in particular, 
viz., a cave among the mountains, where a statue, in 
pure gold, of his father, Huayna Capac, was deposited, 
and which, if he had leave to quit the city, he would 
fetch. Blinded by his cupidity, the Spanish cliief 
gave the required permission, and appointed two of his 
soldiers to accompany the Inca, in the capacity of 
assistants rather than guards. 

Manco Capac, who, I think, may be pardoned the 
ruse by which he obtained his liberty, repaired at once 
to the fastnesses of the mountains, and, joining a great 
assemblage of the Inca nobles, he caused two large 
golden vases of wine to be brought to him, and, having 
recapitulated the wrongs they had suffered from the 
invaders, declared that with their aid he would at 
once besiege Cuzco, and continue the war till not one 
Spaniard was left alive in the land. He concluded by 
saying, — " Let no one man drink of these cups who is 
not determined to stake his life upon the result." The 
majority accepted the pledge, and repaired to their 
several quarters to prepare for a war of extermination. 

The intelligence of the Inca's defection— treachery, 
the Spaniards termed it — being brought to Cuzco, 
Hernando Pizarro sent his brother Juan, at the head 
of a party of cavalry, in quest of the fugitive monarch. 
On the road they fell in with the two soldiers who had 
accompanied Manco, These men told Juan that the 
Inca had dismissed them without offering any violence 
to their persons, and that he was then at the head of 
a large force preparing to besiege the capital. 

Undismayed at, perhaps disbelieving, this report, 



420 THE SPANIARDS IN CUZCO. 

Juan advanced till he reached the river Yucay, when 
he could no longer doubt its truth; for upon the opposite 
bank of the stream he saw many thousands of Peruvians 
drawn up in battle array, ready to dispute his passage. 
The Spaniards, as usual, regardless of the numbers op- 
posed to them, plunged into the stream, and swam their 
horses across, amidst a tempest of stones and arrows, 
and that too so gallantly, that they made good their 
landing. The Peruvians, however, had fallen back but 
for a moment; for, before their enemy could re-form, 
they attacked them so furiously with their copper- 
headed lances, huge maces, and pole-axes, that they 
were thrown into great disorder. At length, recov- 
ering from this shock sufficiently to form into a solid 
column, and shouting their war-cry, "St. Jago," the 
Spaniards charged into the thick of the enemy, who, 
incapable of withstanding this onset, gg.ve way, were 
trampled beneath the feet of the horses, or pierced by 
lances. Still, not before night did the brave Indians 
cease fighting, and retreat to their fastnesses. 

Astonished as the Spaniards were at the military 
order and determined bravery of a people they had 
hitherto found so tame and docile, they went to rest 
that night with a full conviction that the slaughter 
they had committed among the Peruvian ranks had 
crushed the rebellion. Guess, then, their dismay the 
following morning to find the passes and sides of the 
mountains covered with lines of Indians, ready to 
renew the fray, Por a day or two the Peruvians and 
Spaniards stood, as it were, at bay, the former having 
learned sufficient of the art of war to know that, how- 
ever numerous they might be on the plains, they were 



DANGER OF JUAX PIZARRO. 421 

but as flocks of sheep in the hands of butchers ; and 
the latter were unable to manoeuvre their horses among 
the defiles and passes of the mountains. Thus, with 
the exception of a few forays upon either side, but 
little fighting took place. From this embarrassing 
position Juan Pizarro was relieved by a message from 
his brother Hernando, telling him that he himself was 
besieged in the city of Cuzco. He at once, therefore, 
ordered a retreat ; but, coming in sight of Cuzco, the 
Spaniards were astounded at the scene before them. 
The whole city was surrounded. " The extensive 
environs," says the chronicler of the siege, " as far as 
the eye could reach, were occupied by a mighty host, 
which an indefinite computation swelled to the number 
of 200,000 warriors. The dusky lines of the Indian 
battalions stretched out to the very verge of the moun- 
tains; while, all around, the eye saw only the crests 
and waving banners of chieftains, mingled with rich 
panoplies of featherwork, which reminded some few 
who had served under Cortes of the military costume 
of the Aztecs. Above all rose a forest of long lances 
and battle-axes edged with copper, which tossed to and 
fro in wild confusion, glittered in the rays of the set- 
tiug sun, like light playing on the surface of a dark 
and troubled ocean. It was the first time that the 
Spaniards had beheld an Indian army in all its terrors; 
such an army as the Incas led to battle when the ban- 
ner of the sun was borne triumphant over the land. 

"Whatever may have been the crimes of the Spanish 
conquerors of Peru, they were never wanting in that 
dash which historians call heroism; so, regardless of all 
but their beleaguered countrymen, they prepared to 



422 THE SPANIARDS IN CUZCO. 

cut their way through the enemy's ranks. This time, 
however, there was but little necessity for desperate 
courage, for the wily Indians, not unwilling to get as 
many victims as they could (for they entertained no 
doubt of victory) within their power, fell back at their 
advance, and permitted them to march into the city, 
not a little to the satisfaction of Hernando, who, with 
his brother's troops, now mustered 200 horse and foot, 
and 1,000 Indian auxiliaries. This force was but 
trifling compared with the multitudes swarming at the 
gates; but as the Indian allies were a tribe that had 
been recently subjugated by the Peruvians, and enter- 
taining as deadly a hatred for their conquerors as the 
Tlascalans did against the Mexicans, Hernando Pizarro 
hoped to use them as successfully against the Inca 
troops as Cortes did his Indian allies against the Aztecs. 
The next morning (it was in February, 1536) the 
Peruvians began the siege by discharging clouds of 
burning arrows and red-hot stones upon the roofs of 
the buildings. These being all composed* of thatch, 
volumes of flame burst forth from every quarter. The 
war-cries of the Indians were appalling. The smoke 
was so dense that sight was impossible, and as the 
intensity of the heat increased, it seemed as if the 
Spaniards were fated either to be suflTocated or roasted 
alive in the great square, where they had taken up 
their position. All day the fire raged, and at night, 
by the lurid liglit, the soldiers could read consternation 
depicted in each other's ghastly faces. For several days 
the flames continued, destroying tower, temple, hut, 
and palace, indeed, till full one-half of the city was 
destroyed. 




Terrible position of the Spaniards. 



TERRIBLE POSITION OF THE SPANIARDS. 423 

The Spaniards finding all attempts to extinguisli the 
fire vain, permitted it to bnrn itself out, and from 
time to time sallied forth to repel the attacking Indians; 
but in this they had great difficulty, for the debris of 
the falling buildings impeded the movements of their 
horses. While removing this rubbish they sufiered 
severely; for, being a work of time and danger, the 
men so employed were exposed to the whole brunt of 
the enemy's archery. Once, however, having made a 
pathway, the Spaniards would from time to time make 
such impetuous charges among their assailants, that they 
fell by hundreds. Most serious to the Spaniards was 
the expert use the Peruvians made of the lasso, a long 
rope with a noose at the end, which they threw over the 
rider, or entangled it with the legs of the horse, so as 
to bring both man and animal to the ground. But 
however victorious in these occasional raids, the situa- 
tion of the Christians had become terrible; for, sleeping 
in their arms, their horses saddled by their sides, they 
obtained rest neither by night nor day. Moreover, the 
fortress which overlooked the city, and commanded the 
great square, had speedily fallen into the hands of the 
enemy. To add to their misery, rumours reached them 
that the rising was general throughout the land. Lima, 
Truxillo, and the chief cities were besieged, and must 
inevitably fall into the hands of the Peruvians. As 
for those Spaniards who had settled at various parts, 
they had been massacred upon their own plantations ; 
and as a proof of this, ten or a dozen human heads 
were rolled into the square, in wdiose blood-stained and 
ghastly features they recognized those of their former 
companions. At these rumours, supported as they 



424 THE SPANIARDS IN CUZCO. 

were by this horrible sight, a general consternation 
seized the troops, and they looked around in despair. 
Escape seemed hopeless. The Indians in the fortress, 
which commanded their position, were gradually de- 
cimating them. " Far better," they cried, "to fall like 
Spaniards, hewing our way through the ranks of these 
pagans, than to be butchered or burned here." Such a 
retreat, by means of their horses, would have been 
comparatively easy ; but the Pizarros were not com- 
posed of retreating metal. The spirit of Hernando, 
like that of his namesake Cortes, arose as his fortunes 
declined; so, calling his chief officers around him, he 
addressed them to the following effect : — " I have called 
you together, gentlemen, because it seems to me these 
Indians are disgracing us more and more each day. 
There is a weakness (he meant fear) in some of us, or 
it would not be openly desired that we should give up 
this great city for which we have so hotly contended. 
It is the ancient seat of empire, and though now in 
ashes, will rise again as glorious as ever. Remember, 
all eyes are upon us as its defenders, and if we fail, 
it will give such confidence to the enemy that our 
countrymen may be slaughtered throughout the land. 
Gentlemen, we are placed at a post of honour, at 
which it would be more like Castilian cavaliers to die 
than desert." Then addressing his brother Juan, who 
seems to have advocated a retreat, he said, — " If yov^ 
can give such advice, how was it you had courage to 
defend the city against Almagro when he sought to 
rebel T Then, with a look of irony, he said to the 
king's treasurers, — "Is it not strange for you, who 
have charge of the royal fifths, to talk in this manner % 



TERRIBLE POSITION OF THE SPANIARDS. 425 

Having spoken in a similar strain to those cavaliers 
who held mnnicipal offices, he concluded by saying, — 
"Shall it be said that I, from any motive of fear, 
abandoned the territory conquered and colonized by my 
brother, Francisco Pizarro. ISTo, gentlemen; in the 
service of God and the king, and sustaining our own, 
let us die rather than desert. As for myself, if I am left 
alone, I will perish rather than it shall be said that 
another gained the city and I lost it." Then, finding 
by the gestures and exclamations of those around 
that they were ready to stand by him to the last, he 
added, — " The men and horses are exhausted, so that it 
will be impossible to hold out two more days; there- 
fore, at the risk of losing all our lives, we must retake 
the fortress to-morrow." 

" The horsemen are ready, to a man, to follow you to 
victory or death," was the reply. As for Juan Pizarro, 
although severely wounded, he claimed the lead in the 
next day's storming; "Por," said he, "it was by my 
carelessness it was lost. I said that I would retake it 
whenever it should be necessary to do so; therefore, 
while I am alive, it would ill become me to permit 
another to undertake the duty." 

Anxious as was Hernando to get possession of the 
fortress, he deemed it prudent first to strike such a 
blow upon the besiegers as would intimidate them from 
attacking his present quarters. To do this, he caused 
the Indian allies to clear three passages through the 
rubbish. This being efiected, and dividing his troops 
into three divisions, under his brother Gonzalo, Ga- 
briel de Pojas, and Hernan Ponce de Leon, he com- 
manded them to make a sudden raid upon the enemy. 



426 THE SPANIARDS IN CUZCO. 

This order tlie tliree officers obeyed so literally, and with 
such impetuosity, that the Peruvians, taken by sur- 
prise, were slaughtered by hundreds. Upon this occa- 
sion, however, as upon every other throughout the 
siege, the natives rallying, returned to the attack with 
heroic courage ; yet, though some fought hand-to-hand 
with their copper-headed war-clubs and pole-axes, sup^ 
ported by others who rained stones, darts, and arrows 
upon the Spaniards, and others threw themselves fear? 
lessly upon the horsemen, endeavouring to tear them 
from their saddles, they were ultimately compelled to 
give way ; for what could courage, numbers, or strength 
avail in an open field against the horses, common 
broadswords, lances, and lastly the arquebusiers, who 
kept up a running fire through the whole action, 
During this onslaught it v/as observed that the Peru^ 
vians fought with almost the discipline of European 
troops, which it was supposed they had learned from 
some Spanish prisoners whose lives the Inca had spared. 
They were also, many of them, armed with bucklers, 
helmets, and swords, of European jnanufacture, and, 
in some instances, mounted oijl horses which had been 
taken from the Christians — a proof of the superiority 
of their intelligence and civilization over the Aztecs, 
who never could be brought to mount a horse. 

The Spanish commander having dealt out a lesson to 
the enemy which he thought would deter them from 
further annoying him, he turned his attention to the 
attack upon the citadel. This fortress, as we have seen, 
stood upon a rocky eminence, so steep as to be inacces- 
sible, in the northern quarter of the city. It was 
therefore determined to assault it upon the side of the 



GALLANTRY OF JUAN PIZARRO. 427 

open country, where it was defended by two great 
crescent-shaped walls. In order to divert the atten- 
tion of the Indians, and make them believe he was 
going upon a foraging expedition, the brave Juan, with 
his little troop, took a direction opposite to the fortress. 
He had commenced his march at sunset; by night, 
however, he made a counter-march. The Indians 
never being accustomed to night attacks, wefe ignorant 
of the use of sentinels ; thus Juan found the mountain 
passes unprotected, and even the outer gateway, through 
which he and his cavaliers at once galloped. The 
opening, however, had been left unguarded purposely 
by the Peruvians, who thus hoped to entrap the whole 
party; for the interior court was crowded with war- 
riors, who gallantly welcomed the horsemen with a 
cloud of deadly missiles. Upon setting out, Juan had 
received two distinct orders from his brother; the one, 
not to attack the fortress until nightfall, the other, not 
to adventure his own person in the fight, for a severe 
wound in the jaw prevented him from putting on his 
morion, to go without which would be sheer madness. 
Juan, however, either smarting under the reception, or, 
perhaps, remembering that the Indians had no such 
protective armour, ordered one-half of his men to dis- 
mount and make a breach in the walls. This was 
effected in the face of a tempest of stones, arrows, and 
javelins, from which no armour could protect them. 
Still undismayed, and as his men fell around him, 
replacing them by others, he succeeded in making a 
wide breach, when the cavalry galloped through, riding 
down all before them. Thus driven back, the Indians 
took refuge upon a terrace, commanded by the largest 



428 THE SPANIARDS IN CUZCO. 

tower, where, rallying, they again showered their mis- 
siles, while their comrades in the fortress hmied down 
pieces of rock and timber. This but whetted the 
ardour of Juan, who, cheering his men, sprang forward 
upon the terrace. At the same moment he was stricken 
to the earth by a huge stone; yet, while bleeding and 
prostrate, he continued so to animate his men that the 
terrace was carried and its defenders slain. The victory 
was a costly one to the Sjianiards, for their heroic 
leader now suffered such excruciating agony from his 
wound, that they were compelled to remove him to 
the town below, where, shortly afterwards, he ex- 
pired. Thus died, if not the greatest, the best and 
most knightly of the Pizarros — a hero in a bad cause — 
but whose escutcheon was clearer from the stain of 
cruelty to the Indians than, perhaps, any one of the 
conquerors of Peru. 

After the fall of his brother, Gonzalo Pizarro, upon 
whom the chief command had devolved, did his best 
to continue the attack. The enemy, however, poured 
upon the Spaniards from all quarters in such vast 
numbers that they were compelled to draw off from 
the fortress. 

Never were they in a more critical position during 
the conquest than the morning following Juan's attack, 
for the Inca had sent a reinforcement of many thou- 
sands of Indians. Hernando, however, determined to 
lose no time, left the town in charge of Gonzalo, and 
went in person to besiege the fortresses. After some 
desperate fighting he succeeded in taking one; but the 
other and most formidable was defended by an Inca 
lord. This native hero, a noble in person as in heart, 



A PERUVIAN HEEO. 429 

during the storm strode along tlie battlements, armed 
with a Spanish buckler and cuirass, bearing in his 
hands a huge mace, the head of which was studded 
with points of copper ; and with this terrible weapon 
he struck down all who attempted to force a passage 
into the fortress ; and whenever he saw one of his own 
men faltering, he slew him as an example to the others, 
and hurled his body upon the besiegers. Ladders were 
planted against the walls; but no sooner did a Spaniard 
gain the uppermost round than he was thrown to the 
ground by the Indian chief. His activity was as great 
as his strength, for he was everywhere when wanted. 
For wounds he cared but little, for he ran about with 
two arrows in him, "of which," says the chronicler, 
"he took no more account than if they were not 
there." 

This heroism so attracted the admiration of Her- 
nando, that he gave orders that he should not be 
injured, but taken alive if possible. No such triumph, 
however, was reserved for the Spaniards; for, finding 
all further resistance useless, the warrior, as a sign of 
despair, taking earth in his hands, bit it and rubbed 
his face with it, then, resolved that he would not wit- 
ness the triumph of the ruthless invaders of his beloved 
country, he sprang to the edge of the battlements, 
dashed his club down at the besiegers, and, wrapping 
his mantle around him, threw himself headlong from 
the summit. " He died," says Prescott, " like an an- 
cient Roman. He had struck his last stroke for the 
freedom of his country, and he scorned to survive her 
dishonour." 

Disheartened at the loss of the fortress, the Peru- 



430 THE SPANIARDS IN CUZCO. 

vians retired from their position to their fortified en- 
campments. Still, in a short time the city and fortress 
became almost untenable to the Spaniards; for, hemmed 
round as they were by the natives, who possessed the 
country, they could hold no communication with their 
countrymen. Indeed, as weeks passed and no rein- 
forcements arrived, the latter began to fear that they 
had been exterminated in the general rising of the 
natives. As usual, some of the army begged of their 
chief to let them cut their way through to the coast. 
But Hernando, more than ever determined to retain 
his hold of Cuzco, declared that he would remain there 
for six years if necessary. To keep up the spirits of 
his men, however, and also to secure sheep and maize, 
he made occasional forays, in which, as was ever the 
case, the natives were butchered like sheep. This state 
of things had lasted for months, when the Inca again 
laid siege to the city; but, after twenty days, it being 
the time of year when it was imperative upon the 
Peruvians to make certain sacrifices, he withdrew his 
troops, and then Hernando determined to attack their 
camp. This time, with a cruelty he had not previously 
exhibited, he ordered his men to slay every woman 
they met, so that the survivors would not dare to come 
and attend upon their husbands and sons — a policy that 
was successful, for the Indians, fearing to lose their 
wives, did not resume the siege. 

As month after month passed without bringing 
tidings of the Marquis, the troops became convinced 
that their general must be in a similar, if not worse 
plight than themselves, at which their despondency 
became so great that Hernando kept them continually 



DISPIRITING NEWS. 431 

employed in skirmisliing with the enemy. On one of 
these occasions, when they had driven back a cohimn 
of Indians, they found two large bundles, the opening 
of which seemed to confirm their worst fears. One 
contained the heads of six Spaniards, the other a num- 
ber of letters. One of the latter was from the empress 
to the governor of the colony, in which she informed 
the colonists of the late successes of Charles Y. against 
Barbarossa and the Turks. They also found other 
private letters, in which they read that the Marquis 
had sent succours to Cuzco. To elicit further particu- 
lars, Hernando caused some captives to be put to the 
torture. These men told him that large reinforcements 
had been sent by the Marquis at different times, but 
that they had all been cut off in the mountain passes; 
also, that the Inca Manco had in his possession the 
heads of 200 Spaniards, and the skins o± 150 horses. 
They added, also, that the Marquis had departed from 
the country. 

As their fears were now confirmed, they resigned 
themselves to despair, but were again aroused to action 
by Hernando, who told them that, even if the account 
given by the men were true, it only afforded them a 
better opportunity of serving their king. As for their 
murdered companions, they had died in the service of 
their God and the defence of those kingdoms ; and so 
long and earnestly did this brave and determined 
leader exhort his troops to retain possession of the 
capital, awaiting the succour (which, he admitted, might 
even be years before it arrived), that ultimately they, 
one and all, acquiesced. 

There was some truth in the accounts given by the 
2 F 



432 THE SPANIARDS IN CUZCO. 

captive Indians. The rebellion had spread over all 
those portions of the land occupied by the Christians; 
and so well had the general rising been planned, that it 
burst forth nearly simultaneously, and those colonists 
who were living in careless security on their estates 
were ruthlessly massacred, to the numbei of several 
hundreds. One native army had besieged Xauxa, and 
another Lima. The ground, however, at the latter 
place being so flat that the cavalry could manoeuvre 
with ease, the Marquis speedily scattered the Indians 
like chaff before the wind. About the same time 
Pizarro, hearing of the state of Cuzco, made every effort 
to relieve it. He sent four different parties of 100 
each, chiefly cavalry ; but not one succeeded in reaching 
the capital. The Peruvians permitted them to advance 
into the passes, and then hurled down missiles and 
fragments of rock on their heads. In some instances 
not a man escaped, in others a few stragglers only 
survived to return to the general at Lima. 

Such news as this, and months elapsing without 
bringing a messenger from his brother Hernando, created 
so great a consternation in the garrison at Lima, that the 
soldiers openly proposed to Pizarro to sieze the vessels 
that rode at anchor in the port, and fly to Panama. 
The Marquis was not the man to listen to such a 
dastardly scheme. He who had led and fought with 
his men through such terrible dangers would not desert 
them at such a juncture. To quiet the nerves, how- 
ever, of the timid, he despatched them with letters? 
written by his secretary, to the Governors of Panama, 
Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico, praying them, 
upon their loyalty to their sovereign, to send him 



CRUELTY TO THE PERUVIAN PRISONERS. 433 

immediate aid. To Pedro de Alvarado, wliose pre- 
sence in Peru some time before had caused him such 
alarm, he wrote, saying, that if he would come to his 
rescue, he should not only share his conquests, but, if 
he so desired, he would leave him the land of Peru, and 
return himself to Panama or Spain. Pizarro must 
indeed have given up all hope of holding his position 
in the land of the Incas to have offered such tei-ms. 

The position in which the Spaniards at Cuzco were 
now placed tested to their fullest extent the energies 
and abilities of their chief; for, while they were begirt 
by a numerous and savage enemy, who had resolved 
upon exterminating them, they had not the slightest 
hope of relief, believing, as they now did, that the 
whole of their countrymen had been either massacred 
or driven from the land. Still Hernando Pizarro rose 
with the occasion ; each day, as the siege continued, he 
became more daring, resolute, and fruitful in resources. 
Two things were all-important — to keep his troops in 
spirits and in food. Thus scarcely a day passed with- 
out a fray, in which, as usual, large numbers of the 
Indians were killed and provisions acquired. It had 
ever been the policy of the Spaniards in the New 
World to conquer by striking terror into the Indians ; 
80 Hernando, who was by no means given to practices 
of wanton cruelty — nay, was known to be kindly dis- 
posed to the natives — having, in one of his expeditions, 
taken 400 prisoners, he ordered their right hands to be 
cut off, and in that miserable plight sent back to their 
countrymen. One historian tells us that this cruel act 
had the desired effect, for it caused the Inca to break 
up his garrisons and retire for a time from the siege. 
The fact, however, seems to be, that the season for 



434 THE SPANIARDS IN CUZCO. 

planting had arrived, and Manco knew that, if his 
troops (who had been drawn from the agricultural 
population) were to let it pass, a famine must ensue ; 
he therefore sent the greater part of his forces back to 
their labours in the field, and with the remainder retired 
to Tambo, a fortified town south of the valley of Yucay. 
Hernando, knowing that the labours of the field once 
finished, the Peru^dans would resume the siege in 
greater force, resolved to attack the fortress of Tambo, 
and, if possible, to seiz.e the person of Manco. Selecting 
eighty of his best horsemen, with a small company of 
infantry, he made a detour through the mountain 
defiles so stealthily that he arrived, as he thought, at 
the fortress before his advance could have become known 
to the garrison. The palace was much stronger than 
Hernando had expected to fiad it, being placed upon a 
lofty hill, which rendered it impregnable on all sides 
but one. The latter, the quick eye of the Spanish chief 
soon discerned. To attain it they passed a small river. 
Having forded the stream without molestation, and 
apparently without having even drawn the attention of 
the enemy, they began the ascent of the slope. 

It was daybreak. The grassy ground rendered their 
advancing steps noiseless, and the garrison was evi- 
dently still buried in sleep. So far all was favourable ; 
at least, so thought the SjDaniards. But scarcely had 
they reached within bow-shot of the fortress, than 
thousands of armed Peruvians rose above the parapet, 
with the Inca, lance in hand, and on one of their own 
horses, directing his troops; at the same time there 
came such a shower of missiles, stones, javelins, and 
arrows, that the staggered Spaniards fell back unable 
to endure the terrible hurricane; and then only did 



DEFEAT OF TPIE SPANIAEDS. 435 

tliey find liow well tlie Peruvians had been prepared for 
them. The base of the slope was flooded by the waters 
of the river. This the enemy had effected by opening 
the sluices, and so diverted it from its bed. No time 
was to be lost. A retreat was sounded, and the 
Spaniards fled across the river as best they could, pur- 
sued by the Inca's troops to the very walls of Cuzco. 
How refreshing it is to read of so signal a victory gained 
by the ill-fated Peruvians over their remorseless con- 
querors ! But it was the last triumph of the children 
of the sun. 

After this defeat a petty, but harrassing, warfare was 
kept up between the Spaniards and Peravians, by 
which, in time probably, the former might have been 
exterminated, but for a new-comer upon the field. Of 
this fresh arrival Hernando first received intelligence 
from some Indian captives, who said that the one-eyed 
governor (Almagro) was at hand, with 500 men; that 
he was the friend of their Inca, and intended to come 
and kill all the Spaniards in Cuzco. 

With what joy would Hernando Pizarro have heard 
of the coming of 500 of his countrymen under any 
other leader ; but he hated Almagro, for he knew that 
chief pretended to an equal share of power with his 
brother the Marquis. Moreover, he feared that the old 
soldier had the will and the means to tear from his 
grasp the capital, which he and his brave men had so 
many months defended against the whole force of the 
Inca; and these fears became verified, for, soon after, 
he received certain intelligence that the Marshal was 
encamped some seven leagues distant, and in com- 
munication with the Inca. 



436 



CHAPTER X. 



FEUDS BETWEEN THE ALMAGROS AND THE PIZARROS. 

Most disastrous was the expedition of Almagro and 
his party to Chili. Like all their countrymen, gold 
had been their chief object. But, instead, they met 
with toil, suffering, disease, starvation, and death. In 
some places so intense was the cold that numbers lost 
their finger nails, and some even their limbs; others 
were blinded by the snow. As for hunger, so gi-eat 
was its pressure that those who perished by the way 
were devoured by the miserable survivors. These suf- 
ferings seemed to render them more ferocious, for they 
burned and destroyed whole villages, and chaining the 
natives together, in parties of ten or twelve, used them 
as beasts of burden, and that too until they fell dead 
in their chains from exhaustion. It has been said in 
favour of Almagro that he tried in vain to prevent 
these heart-rending cruelties ; but then he at one time, 
for the massacre of three of his men, caused no less 
than thirty Indian chiefs to be burned alive. When 
the Spaniards reached Coquimbo, about the thirtieth 
degree of south latitude, he rested to refresh his troops, 
and in the interim sent a large party to explore the 
country to the south. 

While halting, Almagro was joined by one of his 



DISCONTENT OF ALMAGRo's TEOOPS. 437 

cliief officers, named E-odrigo de Orgonez, at the head 
of a party who had been left behind with orders to 
follow. Orgonez brought with him the royal warrant 
that conferred npon Almagro his new powers and 
territorial jurisdiction, but which had been kept back as 
long as possible by the Pizarros, whose policy it was to 
retain it in their own hands until the Marshal should 
have become too deeply engaged in the conquest of 
Chili lightly to return. 

When the contents of the royal document became 
known to the troops, and they found that their general's 
authority extended as far as 270 degrees south of the 
River Santiago, they declared that the capital, Cuzco, 
was included within the territory named in the war- 
rant; and, disgusted with the toils and sufferings they 
had hitherto undergone, they clamoured to be led back 
to that city, which, they declared, was wrongfully held 
by the Pizarros. " It will be better," they said, " to 
go at once and take possession of those comfortable 
quarters than to wander like outcasts in the wilder- 
ness." They then reminded their chief that in Cuzco 
he could better provide for his illegitimate son, Diego, 
of whom they knew he was devotedly fond. These 
were urgent reasons; but when, after two months' ab- 
sence, the exploring party returned, bringing dismal 
accounts of the country to the south, he no longer 
hesitated, but led them back to Arequipa, a town 
about sixty leagues from Cuzco. Those Spaniards, so 
greedy for the precious metals, knew not that the 
miserable country which they scorned for its apparent 
inability to yield them riches, held in its bosom mines 
of silver ! 



438 FEUDS BETWEEN THE ALMAGROS AND PIZARROS. 

At Areqnipa the marshal first heard of the " insur- 
rection" of the Peruvians and the siege of Ciizco. He 
heard, also, that the Inca Manco Capac was encamped 
near the capital. Then it was that Almagro made the 
first rent in the solemn oath he had taken with his old 
comrade, Pizarro, by sending an embassy to the Inca, 
proposing an interview, with the intention of forming 
an alliance between their two forces for the purpose of 
driving the Pizarros from Cuzco. 

Manco, having once been upon friendly terms with 
Almagro, hospitably received the envoys, and appointed 
the vale of Yucay for the meeting. The Marshal, with 
one-half his force, about 500 men, advanced to the 
place of rendezvous, ordering the other half to march 
to Urcos, about six leagues from Cuzco. 

About this time Hernando Pizarro, having heard the 
surprisiug news of Almagro's return, came near to 
Urcos with a party of cavalry, and demanded to know 
the intentions of the Marshal, The conference between 
the officers of the opposite camps must have lasted 
some time, for the Peruvians, observing the two parties 
together, and believing treachery intended towards 
themselves, communicated their suspicions to the Inca. 
Manco, having no reason to believe in the faith of the 
Spaniard, but many in his treachery, at once planned 
an attack upon Almagro. This the Peruvian prince 
carried out by suddenly falling upon the army of the 
latter in the valley of Yucay with 15,000 men, and a 
fierce battle ensued. But with such desperation did 
the enraged Spaniards fight, that the Inca, after a long 
struggle, was driven back with the loss of the flower 
of his troops. After this action, Almagro joined his 



ALMAGRO IN CUZCO. 439 

otlier division at Urcos, and prepared to enter 
Cuzco. 

Tlie Marshal deeming it necessary, or politic, to enter 
tlie city with, some show of legality, sent an embassy 
to the civil officers, requiring them to recognize his 
authority as governor, at the same time presenting a 
copy of the royal warrant. The ground upon which 
he made his claim was, that Cuzco was within the 
limits of the territory assigned to him. As, however, 
an accurate survey of the country had not then been 
made, and the division-line was near to the disputed 
ground, the authorities, in fear alike of the Pizarros and 
Almagro, declined giving a decision until they had 
taken counsel with certain pilots better instructed than 
themselves; but, in the interim, they proposed a truce. 
This being accepted, each leader solemnly engaged to 
remain peaceably in his own quarters. 

We have seen the estimation in which the most 
solemn oaths were held by these cavaliers. So when, 
shortly afterwards, it became known to Almagro that 
the Marquis had despatched Alonzo de Alvarado with 
a body of troops to the relief of Cuzco, he resolved 
upon seizing the city at once. A dark, stormy night 
(April 8, 1537) was chosen. The Marshal and his 
troops entered the city without opposition, and so 
suddenly and unexpectedly, that even Hernando, 
Gonzalo Pizarro, and about fifteen or twenty of the 
chief oificers, were seized and placed in confinement 
without much difficulty. Finding himself master of 
the capital, the Marshal sent an officer to Alvarado, who 
had advanced as far as Xauxa, informing him of his 
occupation of Cuzco, and requiring his obedience to 



440 FEUDS BETWEEN THE ALMAGEOS AND PIZARROS. 

liim as its lawful master. But, faithful to his standard, 
Alvarado sent the envoy in chains to the Marquis at 
Lima. 

Indignant at this insult to his officer, the hot-headed 
old Marshal at once prepared to march against the con- 
tumacious captain. But what was to be done with the 
Pizarros during his absence from the capital? This 
was a serious difficulty. 

" Strike off their heads at once," advised his favourite 
lieutenant, Orgonez, adding, "for while they live youv 
life will never be safe," and " dead men never bite." 

Almagro hated Hernando, but he had once loved, 
and even then, feared, the Marquis too much to wish, 
by such a course, to make the breach between them 
irrevocable; so he contented himself with leaving the 
brothers under a strong guard in the House of the Sun. 
The Marshal, at the head of a large force, in which 
there were some thousands of Indians under PauUo, 
the brother of Manco, whom Almagro had placed in 
the Incarial throne, met Alvarado at a river called the 
Abancay, and, through the treachery of one of that 
captain's chief officers, Almagro fell upon him so sud- 
denly and unexpectedly, that Alvarado and his army 
were, after a short but fierce encounter, defeated and 
taken prisoners. 

While these events had been transpiring, the Marquis 
had been awaiting at Lima the reinforcements he had 
demanded of the different colonial governors. He was 
not disappointed. Espinosa, the man who had sup- 
plied De Luque with money, and who was therefore 
one of the original partners in the conquest, brought a 
corps of 250 men; while from his kinsman, Cortes, the 



A PROPHSCY. 441 

conqueror of Mexico, he received a vessel laden with 
provisions, military stores, and a costly wardrobe for 
himself. Tims reinforced, the Marquis began his 
march to the relief of his brother Hernando. Before, 
however, he had advanced far, he heard of the return of 
Almagro, the seizure of the capital, and the imprison- 
ment of his brothers. Alarmed at these successes of his 
rival, and fearing an attack upon Lima, he returned to 
put that city in a state of defence. While thus engaged 
in preparing for war, he sent Espinosa to negotiate 
with Almagro. Unfortunately, during this negotiation, 
Espinosa, who was a wise and honourable man, and a 
peace-maker, died, and the enemies of the Pizarros 
about the person of the Marshal, had sufficient in- 
fluence to persuade liim to stop all treaties, and proceed 
at once to the coast, to plant there a seaport colony 
similar to Lima. 

Before, however, setting out upon this expedition, 
Orgonez went in pursuit of the Inca Manco, whom he 
drove from his fortress of Tambo into the fastnesses of 
the Andes. Upon his return this officer again urged 
upon Almagro the necessity of striking off the heads of 
the Pizarros, and this time he would probably have 
succeeded but for Diego Alvarado, the brother of the 
celebrated Pedro, or Tonatiuh of the conquest of 
Mexico. This cavalier, being a man of noble birth 
and mind, argued that such an act would ruin the 
Marshal by the indignation it would excite at the 
court of Spain. Greatly chagrined that his chief 
would not destroy the Pizarros, Orgonez told the 
marshal a day would come when he would repent 
this mistaken lenity. " A Pizarro," he said, " was 



442 FEUDS BETWEEN THE ALMAGROS AND PIZARROS. 

never known to forget an injury; and that which 
they had ah-eady received from Almagro was too 
deei3 for them to forgive." The result was that 
Almagro ordered Gonzalo Pizarro and the other 
prisoners to be .detained in Cuzco under a strong 
guard, and that Hernando should accompany the 
army under the charge of twenty horsemen. 

It was in August that Almagro arrived at the vale 
of Chincha, upon the coast^ and at once set about build- 
ing a town that should rival Lima; but while thus 
employed, he received news that Gonzalo Pizarro and 
Alonzo de Alvarado had, by bribing their guards, escaped 
from Cuzco. Orgonez so fanned his rage, by insinuat- 
ing that but for his ill-advised lenity this could not 
have happened, that he would at once have put Her- 
nando to death. Fortunately, however, for that cap- 
tain, his brother Pizarro had just sent a proposition to 
Almagro, that a friar named Francisco de Bovadilla 
(trusted by both) should be appointed umpire to decide 
between them where the territories of the one began, 
and those of the other ended. To this Almagro agreed, 
and an interview between the two governors was ar- 
ranged. Thus was the life of Hernando saved. 

The meeting took place at Mala upon the 19 th of 
November, 1537. So haughty, however, was the con- 
duct of the Marquis, that the Marshal, suspecting 
treachery, abruptly quitted the apartment, jumped 
into his saddle, and galloped back to his own quarters. 
After Almagro's departure the friar gave his award, 
lie decided that a skilful pilot should be sent to make 
a survey. In the meantime, Cuzco was to be delivered 
up by Almagro, and Hernando Pizarro to be set at 



HERNANDO AT LIBERTY. 443 

liberty, on condition of his leaving the camp in six 
weeks for Spain. 

This decision so enraged the friends of Almagro that 
they demanded the head of Hernando, and would have 
obtained it but for the good offices of Alvarado, whose 
influence over the mind of the Marshal was consider- 
able. 

The Marquis, finding he had gone too far, and 
that the life of his brother was in the utmost danger, 
so far met Almagro as to agree that if Hernando 
were set at liberty he should, as originally stipulated, 
be sent back to Spain, and Cuzco should remain in the 
hands of Almagro. 

Agreeing to this, Almagro, in order to do honour to 
his prisoner, went in person to release him, at the same 
time saying that he hoped all past differences would 
be forgotten, and that henceforth they should live only 
in the recollection of their ancient friendship. To 
which Hernando replied, " that he desired nothing bet- 
ter;" and solemnly pledged his knightly honour that 
he would comply with the terms upon which he had 
been released. The Marshal then led him to his quar- 
ters, where he partook of a collation in company with 
his chief officers. After which Diego Almagro and 
some officers accompanied him to his brother's camp. 
The party was received most cordially by the Marquis, 
who treated all with courtesy, but lavished great atten- 
tion upon Diego, the son of his ancient comrade. All 
of which being reported to the Marshal, it left no doubt 
in the mind of that leader that all disputes were at 
length amicably settled — a proof sufficient that, with 
all his experience, Almagro knew no more of Pizarro 



444 FEUDS BETWEEN THE ALMAGROS AND PIZARROS. 

than when, at the outset of theii' enterprise, he had 
entrusted him to make terms with the court of Spain. 

As energetic in plans of treachery as in conquest, the 
Marquis had no sooner parted from the young Almagro 
and his companions, than he called his little army to- 
gether, and addressing them, recapitulated the wrongs 
that he and his brother had suffered at the hands of 
the Marshal Almagro and his followers. The time, 
he added, was now come for revenge ; but, as he was 
too old for campaigning, his brother should lead them. 
He then released Hernando from his engagements to 
Almagro, and his knightly brother, after some affected 
reluctance, accepted the release upon the grounds of 
its necessity for the service of his brother and king. 

The Marquis then sent a message to Almagro, who 
had retired to a valley named Zangalla, warning him 
that their late treaty was at an end, and that if he did 
not relinquish all claim upon Cuzco, and retire within 
the limits of his own territory, he must take the conse- 
quences. Bitter were the feelings of the Marshal at 
the receipt of this message. By rejecting the counsel 
of Orgonez and releasing Hernando, he had thrown 
away the best card in his hand, more especially as he 
now discovered that, even during the negotiations, the 
false Marquis had been preparing a powerful force, 
which was to be led by his late prisoner, the most for- 
midable warrior in the IS'ew World. To add to his 
difficulties, he was also suffering from a malady so 
grievous that he was compelled to confide the manage- 
ment of his affairs into the hands of his lieutenant, 
Orgonez. When, after a toilsome march, during which 
Almagro was carried in a litter, the Almagrists 



BATTLE BETWEEN THE CONQUERORS. 445 

readied Cuzco^ tlieir first care was to strengthen the 
fortifications in readiness for an attack. About ten 
days after their arrival, news arrived that Hernando 
was within a few leagues of the capital. A council of 
war was called. Some were for standing a siege ; but 
the Marshal, whose experience of the Pizarrqs should 
have taught him better, proposed opening another 
negotiation. 

"Negotiate! It is too late. You have liberated 
Hernando Pizarro, and nothing remains but to fight 
him," bluntly exclaimed Orgonez; concluding by another 
proposition, viz., that they should march out and give 
the enemy battle on the plains. This plan was accepted; 
and as Almagro was too ill to sit on his horse, the chief 
command was given to Orgonez, who, without loss of 
time, mustered the troops, and took up his position at 
a place called Las Salinas — " The Salt Pits." ISTotwith- 
standing the savage nature of this man, which led him 
to advise Almagro to assassinate his prisoner, Her- 
nando, he seems to have conscientiously believed in the 
justice of his cause ; for, before setting out from Cuzco 
to meet Hernando Pizarro, he fell upon his knees in the 
presence of his chief, and invoked the Creator to give 
him victory or death, as the cause for which he was 
about to fight was righteous or unjust. 

Upon reaching the salt pits, Orgoiiez found Her- 
nando's army drawn up on the other side of the royal 
road of the Incas, which passed through the plains. It 
was the most chivalrous battle-field that had ever been 
seen in the New World, for the antagonists were well 
matched in arms and the science of war. In fact, the 
bravest and best-tried warriors of Spain were about to 



446 FEUDS BETWEEN THE ALMAGROS AND PIZARROS. 

test each other's strength hand to hand, face to face. 
There were thousands of Indian allies on either side; 
but these did little more than gaze from the heights 
upon the contest beneath, feeling, I have no doubt, 
that whichever side conquered, so long as a great 
slaughter ensued, it must, in the end, advantage their 
• common country. The rumours of the coming trial 
between the Pizarrists and the Almagrists having 
spread over the surrounding country, the mountains 
and heights were covered with natives, and numbers of 
Castilian women, who had thronged out of Cuzco to 
witness the dreadful contest between their brethren 
and kindred. Orgonez and his three hundred cavalry 
wore white vests over their armour. Hernando wore 
a vest of orange damask, and in his helmet a tall white 
feather, that he might be known, not only by his own 
men, but by the enemy, to whom he had sent a descrip- 
tion of his dress. 

Mass having been performed, Hernando sent a 
formal demand to Orgonez to relinquish possession of 
the city of Cuzco, The reply to this was the opening 
of Orgonez's artillery upon the Pizarrists, and thus the 
battle commenced. The war-cries were shouted — " For 
the king and Pizarro," "for the king and Almagro." 
Then came the continued roaring of artillery and 
arquebuses, the shock of cavalry against cavalry. 
Desperate and bloody was the contest; the two chiefs, 
Hernando and Orgoiiez, were to be seen perform- 
ing prodigies of valour, and seeking to meet each . 
other. Several knights had the brave lieutenant slain, 
mistaking them, by theii' armour and plumes, for 
Pizarro; but at length he was stricken from his horse 



A DASTARDLY DEED. 447 

by a sliot from an arqneLuse. He was speedily sur- 
rounded by the enemy ; but still lie refused to deliver 
up bis sword to any under tbe rank of a knight. " Is 
there not one present?" he asked. There was not one; 
but a fellow, named Fuentes, a menial in the service of 
Pizarro, presenting himself to the fallen chief as the 
representative of his master, Orgonez gave up the 
weapon, when the dastard drew his dagger and struck 
him to the heart. The head of the slain knight was 
then stricken off, and displayed in the square of Cuzco 
as the head of a traitor. " Thus," remarks Prescott, 
" fell as loyal a cavalier, as decided in council, and as 
bold in action, as ever crossed to the shores of America." 

During the action the brave old Almagro, too feeble 
for the saddle, sat reclining in a litter upon a neigh- 
bouring height. But, seeing the defeat of his troops, 
he mounted a mule and fled towards the fortress of 
Cuzco. He was, however, speedily overtaken by his 
enemies, who placed him in irons, and, taking him to 
the capital, threw him into the dungeon formerly occu- 
pied by the Pizarros. "Well had Orgonez prophesied 
the consequences of lenity to a Pizarro. 

Terrible had been the slaughter during that fierce 
contest; but the scenes that foUoAved were even more 
horrible, for the Pizarrists at every turn murdered their 
flying enemies in cold blood. Their hatred seemed in- 
satiable. Pedro de Lerma, one of Almagro's ofiicers, 
while lying wounded and a prisoner, was visited by a 
Pizarrist soldier whom he had once chastised for diso- 
bedience. This fiend, approaching the couch, told his 
old officer that he had come to wash out the insult in 
his blood; and, as he spoke, stabbed him to the heart. 
2 G 



448 FEUDS BETWEEN THE AMIAGHOS AND PIZARROS. 

For five years this miscreant lived, to openly boast of 
the dastardly deed as the reparation of his honour. 
But, near the end of that period, the Governor of 
Puerto Yiego, feeling that he and the community at 
large were insulted by this boasting, caused him to be 
hanged. 

Having possession of the capital, Hernando Pizarro's 
first step was to give up the richly-stored quarters of 
Almagro and his partizans to the mercy of his greedy 
followers. The next was to play the part of the hypo- 
crite by visiting the Marshal and assuring him that, 
notwithstanding the past, he should be set at liberty 
as soon as his brother, the IMarquis, arrived in Cuzco. 
To lend strength to his assurance, he, from day to day, 
sent such delicacies to the j)risoner from his own table, 
that, by keeping up his appetite, might restore him to 
health. And so cheered was Almagro by these atten- 
tions that he soon showed visible signs of improvement. 
Alas ! how little, even yet, the old warrior knew of the 
cruelty of a Pizarro. 

"While the Marshal was living in expectation of re- 
lease, Hernando was endeavouring to encompass his 
death with some decent show of legality. The vilest 
of the Marshal's own soldiers were suborned to bring 
charges against their chief These were so numerous 
that it is said they filled 1,000 folio j)ages with their 
accusations; and upon such evidence, in his absence, 
Almagro was tried, convicted, and sentenced to sufi'er 
death as a traitor in the public square of the city. 

The proceedings and the sentence being communi- 
cated to him at one and the same time, the astounded 
prisoner would not believe it to be true. " It is im- 



ALMAGEO DOOMED. 4:49 

possible that such wrong can be intended," he said. 
Then, when at his request Hernando came to his dun- 
geon, the old soldier, humbled by his position and ill 
health, piteously begged for his life, reminding Her- 
nando of his old friendship with his brother, the good 
offices he had done the Pizarro family ; then he spoke 
of the services he had performed for his country; and^ 
lastly, besought his enemy to spare his grey hairs, and 
not deprive him of the remnant of a life from which he 
had now nothing to fear. 

But Hernando, whose own late victory had taught 
him the danger of mistaken lenity to a hated foe, re- 
plied by taunting him with conduct unbefitting a cava- 
lier in thus begging his life, and bade him employ his 
remaining moments in making his peace with Heaven. 

Again the old man requested him to spare his life, 
reminding Hernando that but a short time since he 
had saved Ms under similar circumstances, and that, 
too, when urged by his officers to take it; and, finding 
this a2Dpeal to his enemy's gratitude vain, he threatened 
him with the vengeance of the emperor. But it was 
all useless. A famished tiger would sooner have re- 
signed his prey; and, once more assuring him his doom 
was inevitable, he left his prisoner to prepare for his 
fate. 

j^o less astonished at the presumptuous daring which 
had led Hernando to sit in judgment on a man of Al- 
magro'srank, than at the sentence itself, the community 
of Cuzco openly exhibited their indignation, and clam- 
oured for the old chief's release. Many Spaniards of 
the highest rank, and partizans of the Pizarros, sought 
Hernando, and attempted to wean and dissuade hiin 



450 FEUDS BETWEEN THE ALMAGEOS AND PIZAHROS. 

from sucli an atrocity as the mock-legal murder of the 
Marshal. But it was useless. This interference caused 
only a change in the mode of execution. Almagro was 
strangled in his dungeon. The body was then taken 
to the public square, the head cut off, and exhibited 
as that of a traitor. The next day the remains were 
interred with great solemnity. Following the hypo- 
critical example of their brother, the Marquis, at the 
funeral of Atahuallpa, the Pizarros appeared among 
the chief mourners. 

This murder of Almagro was the darkest deed in the 
career of Hernando Pizarro; still, its darkness does 
not, as some historians would insinuate, whiten the 
character of the Marshal. He was brave; but so was 
nearly every Spaniard on the continent. ' He was 
generous; nay, among his own soldiers, prodigal to a 
fault. At the same time, we know that to obtain 
power, or that gold of which he was so lavish, he never 
allowed human life, whether one or a thousand, to 
stand in his path — as witness the important part he 
played in the murder of Atahuallpa, and his cruel 
burning alive of the Indian chiefs during the expedi- 
tion to Chili. As for saving the life of his hated 
enemy, Hernando, while in his power, it was from no 
good or commendable motive, but at the repeated in- 
tercession of Alvarado, and fear of the vengeance of 
the all-powerful Marquis. For my own part, I do not 
symj)athize with his fate; for, according to the Chinese 
proverb, " The hunter's dog must expect to die a 
violent death." We can offer little excuse for Her- 
nando; still, he was but second in the crime; for, not- 
withstanding the more hypocritical Marquis affected 



THE MAEQUIS ENTERS CUZCO IN STATE. 451 

anger with Ids brother, and grief at his comrade's 
death, yet when, after the trial, Hernando sent to 
Lima, asking what should be done with the prisoner, 
the Marquis, although he did not command his death, 
replied curtly, — " Deal with him so that he shall give 
us no more trouble." 

I do not think we can pity the end of any of these 
remorseless men, who, having lived by destroying, 
torturing, enslaving, and plundering the Peruvians, in 
turn — like wild beasts quarrelling over the distribu- 
tion of their prey — ruthlessly turned their fangs upon 
each other. Finally, no man ever more clearly brought 
ruin upon himself than Almagro. He coinmitted two 
great blunders. First, in appealing to arms to settle a 
question that could more properly have been decided 
by arbitration, or referred to the crown itself 
Secondly, having resorted to arms, he should not have 
negotiated, especially with men whom he knew to be 
so treacherous as the Pizarros. 

Shortly after the death of Almagro, the Marquis 
entered Cuzco in great state, attired in the mag- 
nificent dress sent to him by Cortes, the conqueror of 
Mexico ; and from that day he began to sow the seeds 
of the ruin which ultimately overtook him. When 
Diego de Alvarado applied to him to give the young 
Almagro the southern government, which had been 
bestowed upon his father by the crown, Pizarro gave a 
blunt refusal, insinuating that he alone would henceforth 
rule in Peru. Not contented with this injustice to their 
chief, he treated the whole of the Almagrists with con- 
tempt, even confiscating the estates of all their leaders, 
in consequence of which numbers were reduced to such 



452 FEUDS BETWEEN THE ALMAGROS AND PIZAREOS. 

poverty that, to hide their miseries, they withdrew to 
the mountains. To his brothers he gave such ample 
repartiTRientos that it even excited the anger of his 
own followers. 

As soon as possible after the Marquis had refused to 
do justice to the son of Almagro, Alvarado and some 
other friends of the Marshal proceeded to the court of 
Spain, to lay the young man's case before the emperor. 
Hernando resolved to follow them, and justify the con- 
duct of himself and his brother. Having little doubt 
that gold would dispel all accusations against them, he 
took with him a vast quantity of the precious metal. 
Upon quitting Peru, Hernando cautioned the Marquis 
to beware of the " men of Chili" — for so Almagro's men 
were called — concluding by saying, " Encompass thyself 
with a strong guard, my brother, for I shall not be 
here to watch over thee. Moreover, let none of these 
men come within fifty miles of the capital." But the 
Pizarro laughed, and, bidding Plernando farewell, told 
him to have no idle fears for him. 

It was in 1539 that Hernando reached Valladolid. 
He entered the city in great state and pomp, and with 
all the airs of a conqueror. But the highly-connected 
and chivalrous-minded Alvarado had been before him, 
so he met with but a chilling reception; and, instead of 
receiving an invitation to court, he was seized and 
imprisoned in the fortress of Medina del Campo. 
Almagro was avenged. For twenty years was his im- 
placable enemy kept in durance. " At the end of that 
time he came forth," says the historian, " an aged man, 
bent down with infirmities and broken in spirits — an 
object of pity rather than indignation. Rarely has 



• EETRIEUTIVE JUSTICE. 453 

retributive justice been meted out in fuller measure 
to offenders so high in authority, — most rarely in 
Castile. Yet Hernando bore this long imprisonment 
with an equanimity which, had it been founded on 
principle, might command our respect. He saw 
brothers and kindred — all on whom he leaned for sup- 
port — cut off one after another; his own fortune in part 
confiscated, while he was involved in expensive litiga- 
tion for the remainder; his fame blighted, his career 
closed in an untimely hour, himself an exile in the 
heart of his own country; — yet he bore it all with the 
constancy of a courageous spirit. Though very old 
when released, he still survived several years, and con- 
tinued to the extf-aordinary age of a hundred. He 
lived long enough to see friends, rivals, and foes, all 
carried away to their account before hiin." 



454 



CHAPTEE XL 



LAST DAYS OF THE MARQUIS PIZARBO. 

The feuds of tlie conquerors, and their oppression of 
the miserable Peruvians, arousing the court of Spain to 
the necessity of an immediate and stern interference, a 
learned judge of high rank, named Yaca de Castro, was 
appointed to go out, nominally to aid the Marquis, but 
really to examine into the precise state of the country. 
The court not having the same faith in the loyalty of 
Pizarro as they had had in Cortes, feared that, if 
they superseded him, he might — as was indeed very 
likely — declare himself an independent prince. What 
was done, however, was to give De Castro a commis- 
sion, which, in the event of th^ death of the Marquis, 
he was to produce, and thereby declare himself Royal 
Governor of Peru. Many events, however, of impor- 
tance happened in that city during the interim. 

Soon after the arrival of the Marquis in Cuzco, he 
heard that the Inca Manco, taking advantage of the 
state of the land consequent . upon the late civil war, 
had established himself, with a large number of Peru- 
vians, in a hilly country between the capital and the 
coast. Issuing from this retreat, he fell upon the 
plantations of the colonists, destroying their houses, 
massacring the people, and carrying off the cattle. 



MURDEK OF ONE OF THE INCA's WIVES. 455 

Travellers journeying between the coast and Cuzco 
were set upon and put to death. On one occasion he 
attacked and slew thirty soldiers. 

The governor's first step was to send his brother 
Gonzalo with a detachment of troops to root him out; 
but the Inca evading him at every turn, he next tried 
negotiation. Manco having agreed to meet the gover- 
nor in the valley of Yucay, the latter set out, but sent 
a slave in advance with a rich present to the Inca. 
En route the slave was met by a body of Peruvians, 
who slew him and carried off the gift. It is believed 
that this cruel and treacherous deed was committed 
without the cognizance of the Inca. Still, so enraged 
was the Marquis, that, finding among his prisoners one 
of the Inca's wives, a young and beautiful woman, to 
whom Manco was devotedly attached, Pizarro ordered 
her to be stripped naked, bound to a tree, and, in the 
presence of the camp, to be scourged with rods, and 
then shot to death with arrows. The cruel command 
was obeyed ; but so heroically did she endure the tor- 
ture, without complaint or scarcely a groan, that, brutal 
as they were, even Pizarro's own soldiers shrunk with 
disgust at their commander's wanton crnelty. 

Having thus, as he thought, chastised the Inca, the 
Marquis directed his attention to the settlement of 
distant quarters of the country. Pedro de Yaldivia 
was sent to Chili, while to his brother Gonzalo he 
gave the government of Quito, with instructions to 
explore the Canelas, or cinnamon country, which 
report stated to be near his territory. 

It was at the commencement of 1540 that Gonzalo 
Bet out across the Andes. As in nearly all these 



456 LAST DATS OF THE MARQUIS PIZAREO. 

expeditions, the party endured terrible sufferings. 
Passing through primeval forests, where the foot of 
man had never before trodden, they had to cut their 
way step by step; while their garments, rotting from 
the effects of the heavy rains, caught in every bush and 
bramble, and hung about tJiem in shreds. Their food 
failing, they were compelled to kill their dogs — mostly 
bloodhounds — 1000 of which they had with them, for 
the purpose of hunting down the miserable Indians. 
After much enduring, they came upon the great 
waters of the Napo, one of the tributaries of the 
mighty Amazon. The sight of this river cheered their 
hearts, for they anticipated a pleasanter route along 
its borders. Having, however, traversed some miles, 
" they heai-d," says the historian, " a rushing noise that 
sounded like subterranean thunder. The river, lashed 
into fury, tumbled along over the rapids with frightful 
velocity, and conducted them to the brink of a mag- 
nificent cataract. The appalling sounds, which they 
had heard for the distance of six leagues, were rendered 
yet more oppressive to the spirits by the gloomy still- 
ness of the surrounding forests. The rude warriors 
were filled wdth sentiments of awe. Not a bark 
dimpled the waters. No living thing w^as to be seen 
but the wild tenants of the wilderness, the unwieldy 
boa, and the loathsome alligator basking on the 
borders of the stream. The trees towering in wide- 
spread magnificence towards the heavens; the river 
rolling on in its rocky bed as it had rolled for ages ; 
the solitude and silence of the scene, broken only by 
the hoarse fall of waters, or the faint rustling of the 
woods, all seemed to spread out around them in the 



SUFFERINGS OF GONZALO AND HIS PAKTY. 457 

same wild and primitive state as when they came from 
the hands of the Creator. 

" For some distance above and below the falls, the 
bed of the river contracted so that its width did not 
exceed twenty feet. Sorely pressed by hunger, the 
adventurers determined at all hazards to cross to the 
opposite side, in hopes of finding a country that might 
afi^ord them sustenance. A frail bridge was constructed 
by throwing the huge trunks of trees across the cliasm, 
where the cliffs, as if split asunder by some convulsion 
of nature, descended sheer down a perpendicular depth 
of several hundred feet. Over this airy causeway the 
men and horses succeeded in effecting their passage 
with the loss of a single Spaniard, wlio, made giddy by 
heedlessly looking down, lost his footing and fell into 
the boiling surges below. 

"Yet, they gained little by the exchange. The 
country wore the same unpromising aspect^ and the 
river banks were studded with gigantic trees, or 
fringed with impenetrable thickets. The tribes of 
Indians whom tliey occasionally met in the pathless 
wilderness were fierce and unfriendly, and they were 
engaged in perpetual skirmishes with them. From 
these they learned that a fruitful country was to be 
found down the river at the distance of only a few 
days' journey; and the Spaniards held on their weary 
way, still hoping and still deceived as the promised 
land flitted before them — like the rainbow, receding as 
they advanced." 

But at length human nature could bear no more, 
and Gonzalo resolved to build a bark. This was 
speedily done, for the trees gave them wood ; the shoes 



458 LAST DAYS OF THE MARQUIS PIZAEEO. 

of the horses, which had been slaughtered for food, 
they made into nails; gum distilled from the trees 
answered for pitch, and the tattered garments of the 
men for sails. When finished, one-half the company- 
went on board under the command of Francisco de 
Orellana; and as the brigantine ploughed her course 
through the water, the other half of the company 
marched along the shore. Week after week the 
troops journeyed through the wilderness; but they 
were in greater distress than ever, for, having eaten 
the last of their horses to appease their hunger, they 
were compelled to devour the leather of their saddles. 
Arriving at a richer district, Gonzalo came to a halt, 
and sent Orellana forward in search of provisions. 

With what terrible anxiety did these miserable men 
await the return of their comrades ! But weeks passed 
without tidings of them, and so Gonzalo Pizarro re- 
solved to continue his march. For two months they 
had toiled through the wilderness, when they fell in 
with a half-naked white man, whose faltering steps 
and haggard looks told the tale of his sufierings. He 
was a Spaniard, named Vargas, who had sailed in the 
brigantine. He told Gonzalo that Orellana, borne 
down the current of the Napo, had reached the point 
of its confluence with the Amazon in less than three 
days, but, finding it impossible to make head against 
the current, and so return as he had come, he proposed 
to the crew to launch the bark at once in the bosom 
of the Amazon, and descend the waters to its mouth, 
where, he doubted not, he should find some rich and 
populous nation. Vargas being the only one of tlie 
crew who objected to the dastardly act of escaping 



ADVENTUEES OF OEELLANA. 459 

witli the ship, and leaving Gonzalo and his party in 
the wilderness, had been cast ashore to perish. 

Of the extraordinary voyage performed by this daring 
but treacherous Spaniard, space will only permit me to 
tell that he succeeded in his enterprise, and having 
emerged from the great river into the sea, passed over 
to Spain. The wonderful stories of his adventures 
being related to the court, Orellana obtained a com- 
mission to conquer and colonize the realms he had 
explored; but in the outward voyage, while in com- 
mand of 500 men, he was overtaken by death. Thus 
was his treachery to his companions punished in the 
hour of his triumph; neither did he enjoy the honour 
of giving his name to the mighty waters he had dis- 
covered. 

Deprived of the brigantine, to make which they had 
toiled so hard, Gonzalo and his party had to retrace 
their steps upon foot. Their sufferings are thus pic- 
tured by Prescott. '^At length, ia June, 1542, after 
somewhat more than a year consumed in their home- 
ward march, the wayworn company came on the ele- 
vated plains in the neighbourhood of Quito. But how 
different their asjDCct from that which they had ex- 
hibited on issuing from the gates of the same capital 
two years and a-half before, with high, romantic hope, 
and in all the pride of military array ! Their horses 
gone, their arms broken and rusted, the skins of wild 
animals, instead of clothes, hanging loosely about their 
limbs, their long and matted locks streaming wildly 
down their shoulders, their faces burned and blackened 
by the tropical sun, their bodies wasted by famine and 
sorely disfigured by scars, — it seemed as if the charnel- 



460 LAST DAYS OF THE MAEQUIS PIZAHr.O. 

house liad given up its dead, as, witli uncertain step, 
tliey glided slowly onwards like a troop of dismal 
spectres ! More than half of the 4,000 Indians who 
had accompanied the exjoedition had perished, and of 
the Spaniards only 80, and many of these irretrievably 
broken in constitution, returned to Quito. 

"The few Christian inhabitants of the place, with their 
wives and children, came out to welcome their country- 
men. They ministered to them all the relief and refresh- 
ment in their power; and as they listened to the sad 
recital of their sufferings, they mingled their tears with 
those of the wanderers. The whole company then en- 
tered the capital, where their first act — to their credit be 
it mentioned — was to go in a body to the church, and 
offer up thanksgivings to the Almighty for their miracu- 
lous preservation through their long and perilous pil- 
grimage. Such was the end of the expedition to the 
Amazon ; an expedition which, for its dangers and 
hardships, the length of their duration, and the con- 
stancy with which they were endured, stands, perhaps, 
unmatched in the annals of American discovery." 

Disastrous as this enterprise proved to Gonzalo 
Pizarro and his followers, it was equally so to the 
Marquis; for, by taking from his side one so able to 
fill the place of his brother Hernando, it left him at 
the mercy of his own haughty fearlessness. Hernando 
had warned him to beware of the men of Chili; to take 
care that no greater number than fifty should assemble 
together in one town. It would have been well for 
the governor had he acted upon this advice. On the 
contrary, he permitted them to assemble in Lima to 
the number of 200; and when cautioned again by his 



CONSPIEACY OF THE ALMAGRISTS. 461 

friends against their plottings, he would say, — "Poor 
devils, they have had bad luck enough; we will not 
trouble them further ;" and, as a proof of the contempt 
in which he held them', he accustomed himself to walk 
and ride about the city and its environs without even 
a single attendant. 

When the news arrived in Peru that a judge had 
been appointed by the crown of Spain, these followers 
of Almagro — reduced as they were to the greatest 
poverty, and suffering each day insults from the ad- 
herents of Pizarro — greatly rejoiced; for they expected 
their injuries would now be redressed. When, how- 
ever, two months had elapsed without bringing the 
royal oiiicial, they grew disheartened and openly 
mutinous. Not only did they decline to doff their 
caps on meeting Pizarro in the streets, but, on one 
occasion, caused three ropes to be suspended from the 
public gallows, respectively labelled with the names of 
the Marquis, Yelasquez the judge, and Picado the chief 
secretary. 

Velasquez, to revenge this insult, and taunt the 
Almagrists with their poverty and wretchedness, 
attired himself magnificently, and rode before the 
house of the young Almagro, bearing in his cap the 
inscription, '^ For the men of Chili." Under other 
circumstances this would have been regarded as a very 
childish proceeding. As it was, the haughty and 
poverty-stricken cavaliers regarded it as a deadly insult, 
and at once resolved to assassinate the governor. The 
day appointed for the deed was Sunday, the 26th of 
June, 1541. 

It is veiy remarkable that a man who had himself 



462 LAST DAYS OF THE MARQUIS PIZAllRO. 

graduated in treachery and bloodshed^ should have 
been unsuspicious of men whose characters he so well 
knew, and whom he had so greatly injured and 
insulted. Yet so it was. One of the conspirators 
revealed the plot to his confessor, who at once repeated 
it to Picado, the secretary; he, in turn, communicated 
it to Pizarro, who replied, " It is a device of the priest; 
he wants a mitre." The judge Velasquez seems to 
have been as imprudent as his master; for, when the 
latter had repeated the story to him, instead of seizing 
the conspirators at once, he vauntingly told the gover- 
nor to be under no apprehension, " for no harm should 
come to him while the rod of justice was in his hands." 
Still, although the Marquis did not believe in the con- 
spiracy, he thought it prudent to abstain from going to 
mass on Sunday, on pretence of illness. 

Upon the Saturday evening, as the governor was 
going to bed, one of his pages told him that, on the 
following day, the men of Chili were going to murder 
him. All, however, that the Marquis replied was, 
" These things are not for you to talk about, you little 
rascal." The only notice Pizarro seems to have taken 
of these rumom-s — which were so general that they 
were in the mouths of the Indians — was, when told 
that Juan de Eada, one of the chief leaders of the 
Almagrists, had been seen buying a coat of mail, 
under the advice of his friends, he sent for Juan. Mr. 
Arthur Helps thus translates the conversation that 
took place between them. 

" The governor was in his garden, looking at some 
orange trees, when the leader of the men of Chili called 
upon him. ^ What is this, Juan de Pada,' said the 



PIZAERO AND JUAN DE BAD A. 4G3 

MarquiSj ^ that tliey tell me of your buying arms to 
kill me?' — 'It is true^ my lord, that I have bought 
two cuirasses and a coat of mail to defend myself.' 
— * Well/ replied the Marquis, ' but what moves you to 
buy armour now more than at any other time?' — 

* Because they tell us — and it is notorious — that your 
lordship is buying lances to slay us all. Let your 
lordship finish with us; for, having commenced by de- 
stroying the head, I do not know why you should have 
any respect for the feet. It is also said that your lord- 
ship intends to slay the judge who is coming from Spain; 
but, if your intention is such, and you are determined 
to put to death the party of Almagro, at least spare 
Don Diego, for he is innocent. Banish him, and I will 
go with him wherever fortune may please to carry us.' 
The Marquis was enraged at these words, ' Who has 
made you believe such great villainy and treachery of 
me T he exclaimed. ' 1 never thought of such a thing, 
and I am more desirous than you that this judge should 
come, who already would be here if he had embarked 
in the galleon which I sent for him. As to the story 
of the spears, the other day I went hunting, and 
amongst the whole party there was not one who had a 
spear. I ordered my servants to buy one, and they 
have bought four. Would to God, Juan de Eada, the 
judge were here, so that these things might have an 
end, and that God may make the truth manifest.' — 

* By heaven, my lord,' replied JiTan de Rada, somewhat 
softened by the governor's response, * but they have 
made me get into debt for more than 500 pesos, which 
I have spent in buying armour; and so I have a coat 
of mail to defend myself against whoever may wish to 

2h 



464 LAST DAYS OF THE MARQUIS PIZAERO. 

slay me.' — ^Please God, Juan de Rada, I sliall do 
nothing of tlie kind/ responded the Marquis. The 
conference ended thus, and Juan de Rada was going, 
when Pizarro's jester, who was standing by, said, 
'Why don't you give him some of these oranges?' As 
they were the first that were grown in that country 
they were much esteemed. ' You say well,' replied the 
Marquis; and he gathered six of them, and gave them 
to Juan de Rada, addiDg that he should tell him if he 
wanted anything. They then separated amicably, 
Juan de Rada kissing the governor's hands as he took 
leave." 

This interview seems to have had but little effect 
upon the minds of the conspirators, who, on the day 
appointed, concealed themselves in the house of the 
young Almagro, anxiously awaiting the hour when the 
governor should leave the church. But, learning that 
he had not yet quitted his liouse, they feared he had 
discovered their design. Some resigned themselves to 
despair. The majority, however, wisely considering 
that their only chance of safety lay in immediate 
action, hung out from the window a white flag, as a 
signal to their accomplices without, that they must 
arm and come to their aid. Then, with Rada at their 
head, they ran through the streets, crying, " Long live 
the king ! Death to the tyrant !" It was now clear 
Iiow little the people loved their governor; for, as the 
assassins passed, they coolly observed to each other, — 
" They are going to kill the Marquis, or Picado," but 
no person moved in their defence. While they were 
crossing the square one of the party, Gomez Perez, 
made a detour to avoid a little pool of water; observ- 



ATTACK UPON VH.'E MAEQUIS. 4G5 

iDg which, the savage Eada exclaimed, " \Yhat ! afraid 
of wetting your feet when we are going to wade up to 
our knees in blood ! — get you home to your quarters." 
The Marquis was dining in company with his half- 
brother, Martinez de Alcantara, the Judge Yelasquez, 
a Don Gomez de Luna, and several other cavaliers — in 
all fifteen or twenty. Suddenly their attention was 
arrested by the sounds of a tumult, and cries of the 
servants for help, for the men of Chili had come to 
murder their master. The Marquis ordered Francisco 
de Chaves to close the door of the hall and of the room 
in which they had been sitting. The poor fellow went 
forward to obey, but was slain on the stairs. Those 
who were in the dining-hall, hearing the noise, followed, 
but, seeing the body of De Chaves, fled back and threw 
themselves out of the window. Among the latter was 
Yelasquez, the judge, who leaped out with the Avand of 
office in his mouth; thus taking care, says an ironical 
old chronicler, not to falsify his assurance that "no 
harm should come to the Marquis while the rod of 
justice was in his hands." 

While Pizarro and his half-brother were buckling on 
their armour, the assassins entered the ante-chamber, 
crying, "Where is the Marquis? Death to the tyrant!" 
At once the gallant Martinez, assisted by two of 
Pizarro's pages, ran to the door of the apartment, and 
with might and main defended the entrance, until, 
covered with wounds, they could fight no longer. 
During this time the Marquis had been endeavouring 
to adjust the fastenings of his cuirass; but, seeing his 
brother's danger, he flung it aside, and with, one arm 
enveloped in his cloak, and his sword in the other, 



466 LAST DAYS OP THE MAKQUIS PIZAKRO. 

went to his assistance. It was too late ; Martinez fell 
weltering in liis blood. Pizarro, forgetting his age and 
infirmities, with the heroic courage and almost the 
strength of his youth, fell upon the assassins. " What, 
ho ! traitors," he cried, " have you come to kill me in 
my own house ?" Two of them fell beneath the brave 
old man's sword, and all had been driven back ; but 
their numbers enabling them to relieve each other, 
they again attacked him. In the struggle both the 
pages had fallen. Then the brutal Rada, impatient 
of delay, cried out — " Why are we so long about it ? 
Down with the tyrant !" and taking one of his com- 
panions in his arms, he thrust him upon the Marquis, 
who, at once grappling with his opponent, stabbed him 
to the heart. But at the same moment Pizarro, being 
stabbed in the neck, fell to the ground. " Jesu !" 
murmured the dying governor, and tracing a cross 
with his finger upon the bloody floor, he kissed it. 
Kecovering a little, he asked for a confessor, when 
some dastardly wretch violently dashed a jug in his 
face ; and from that base blow died Pizarro, the con- 
qiieror of Peru, who, whatever may have been his 
crimes and shortcomings, fell like a hero. 

The Marquis assassinated, the conspirators, with 
their bloody swords in their hands, ran through the 
streets, exclaiming, " The tyrant is dead ! The laws 
are restored ! Long live our master the emperor and 
his governor, Almagro !" At these cries the Alma- 
grists one and all rallied around their chief. Guards 
were placed over the houses of the principal friends of 
the late governor. Pizarro's house, and that of his 
secretary, Picado, were pillaged; and the young Al- 




Death of Pizarro. 



TPIE END OF THE MAEQUI3. 4G7 

magro was escorted in triumph through the streets by 
a body of cavaliers, who, by sound of trumpet, pro- 
claimed him Governor and Captain- General of Peru. 

Intoxicated with their victory, many of the Alma- 
grists desired to drag the body of the Marquis through 
the streets, and fix the Lead upon a gibbet. Their 
young chief, however, refused to consent; and per- 
mitted a few of Pizarro's faithful attendants to remove 
the corpse to the cathedral. At night a grave was dug 
in an obscure corner, and, wrapped only in a cotton 
cloth, the remains of the conqueror and assassin of 
Atahuallpa were there interred. " Thus," says the chron- 
icler, " cut off in the broad light of day, in the heart of 
his own capital, in the very midst of those who had 
been his companions in arms, Pizarro perished like a 
wretched outcast, with none even to say — God forgive 
him !" 

Some years later the body was placed in a sumptu- 
ous coffin, and deposited under a monument in the 
cathedral. Again, in 1607, it was removed to the new 
cathedral. The Marquis left no legitimate children; 
his title, therefore, became extinct. But three genera- 
tions after, in the reign of Philip IV., it was revived 
in favour of the descendant of one of his brothers, Don 
Juan Hernando Pizarro, who, out of gratitude for the 
services of the conqueror of Peru, was created Marquis 
de la Conquista. The descendants of this nobleman, 
it is said, are still to be found at Truxillo, in 
Estremadura. 



4:68 



CHAPTER XII 



THE STORY OP THE RISE OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

It was in tlie spring of 1531, after a tedions and tem- 
pestuous voyage, tliat the long-expected judge, "Vaca de 
Castro, arrived at PojDayan, in the north of Peru. 
He was authorized to aid the Marquis in the peaceable 
settlement of the country, and in the event of the death 
of the latter, to succeed him in the government. 
Scarcely had he reached Popayan than he received 
from Alonzo de Alvadro, one of Pizarro's principal 
captains, a letter conveying the astounding intelligence 
of the murder of the governor, and a request that he 
would come southward with all convenient speed. 

By this information De Castro found himself in a 
position from which an ordinary man would have 
shrunk. True, he held the royal commission, itself a 
tower of strength among a people so loyal as the 
Spaniards; but then he was a stranger in a land of 
revolution and bloodshed, without an army, or any 
knowledge of military science ; and, moreover, ignorant 
of Almagro's influence among the colonists. Some of 
his friends urged him to return to Panama, and remain 
there until he had raised a force sufficiently large to 
take the field against the insiirgents. But scorning 
such a proceeding as one that would prove his incom- 



DEFEAT OF THE YOUNG ALMAGRO. 469 

petency for tlie task assigned to liim, lie determined to 
pursue his mission, trusting to tlie chapter of accidents, 
the loyalty of the Spaniards, and his own fertile and 
self-reliant mind, for success. Accordingly he marched 
on to Quito. He was joined on the way by numbers 
of armed men, and at the province itself was well 
received by Benalcazar, Gonzalo Pizarro's lieutenant, 
who also brought him a small force. Moving still 
farther towards the south, and being reinforced by fresh 
troops, when he arrived in the valley of Chupas he 
found himself at the head of a respectable force, and 
in the neighbourhood of the rebel army under young 
Alraagro. 

De Castro now sent a message to Almagro, com- 
manding him to disband his army and join the royal 
standard, promising him a full pardon if he should 
comply with the summons. To this the young general 
replied, that, while De Castro was accompanied by his 
enemies, the Pizarrists, he could not consent, neither 
would he disband his army until he had received a full 
pardon under the royal sign manual. 

To this contumacious message De Castro answered 
by formally denouncing the young chief as a traitor 
and rebel, and by preparing for immediate battle. 
The armies were well matched, the flower of Spanish 
chivalry being divided between them ; but Almagro 
had lost his friend and captain, Pada ; and although 
he and his followers fought heroically, his generalship 
was so bad that, after a long and sanguinary struggle, 
in which some four or five hundred were killed upon 
both sides, he fled, leaving the judge victorious. Porty 
of the fugitive Almagrists werQ taken, tried, and 



470 THE STORY OF THE EISE OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

executed. Diego Almagro also was arrested, and for- 
mally tried at Ciizco. In consideration of his youth 
and misfortunes, De Castro was advised to spare his 
life; but the judge, urging that his death was neces- 
sary to the tranquillity of the country, the brave 
young commander was beheaded in the same public 
square where his father had suffered a few years earlier. 
That execution was long remembered, even by the 
iron-hearted soldiers who took part in it. The youth 
resigned himself to his fate Avithout a murmur; but 
when the herald proclaimed aloud the doom of the 
traitor, he indignantly denied the charge. He made 
no request for mercy, but asked only that his bones 
might be laid by the side of his father's. He declined 
having, as was customary, his eyes bandaged; and, 
after confession, embraced the cross, and submitted 
himself to the executioner. With the death of this 
gallant, but unfortunate youth, whom even his enemies 
admitted to have been more sinned against than sin- 
ning, died out the faction of the men of Chili. 
■ By this, perhaps necessary, but cruel policy, De 
Castro had no sooner rid himself of one enemy than 
he heard that Gonzalo Pizarro had arrived at Lima, 
loudly complaining that the government of the country, 
after his brother's death, had not been given over to 
him. Fearing that he might be pre|)aring to force his 
claims by the sword, the judge at once summoned him 
to Cuzco. Gonzalo not deeming it prudent to set at 
defiance the authority of one who bore the royal com- 
mission, obeyed, and shortly after entered Cuzco at the 
head of a well-armed body of cavaliers. De Castro, 
who had now assuniied the rank and title of governor^ 



DE CASTEO'S POPULARITY. 471 

receh^ed him with such distinguished honoTir and 
respect, so attentively listened to his late adventures in 
the cinnamon country, and showed such sympathy for 
his great sufferings during that expedition, that Gonzalo 
was easily persuaded to retire to his estate at Charcas. 
Probably he felt that, at that time, the power of De 
Castro was too strong to be overthrown. But be that 
as it may, by withdrawing to his rich silver mines of 
La Plata, and working them, he obtained the means of 
attempting the greatest enterprise of his career. 

Having thus made a friend of one whose popularity 
and influence, as chief of the Pizarros, might have 
rendered him a formidable enemy, this wise judge 
applied himself to redressing the wrongs of the Indians, 
the improvement of the great roads, the settling of 
disputes, and all other matters that would conduce to 
the general prosperity of the country. So signal was 
his success, that the hitherto ungovernable colonists 
petitioned the court of Spain to continue him in his 
office; but, as we shall now see, the home government 
had another scheme in preparation. 

Notwithstanding that among the colonists there 
were many good men, who sent to the foot of the 
throne remonstrances against the inhuman cruelties 
committed upon the natives by their countrymen, 
Charles Y.'s time and attention had been so occupied, 
nearly the whole of his reign, with European affairs, 
that he had given but little personal attention to those 
of the colonies. There was, however, in the year 154:2, 
at the court of Charles one man, the greater part of 
whose life had been spent either among the Indians or 
in urging upon the home government the necessity of 



472 THE STORY OF THE RISE OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

protecting them against the cruel masters to whom 
they had been assigned. This man was Las Casas, 
subsequently Bishop of Chiapa, now chiefly known as 
the historian of the Spanish conquests in the New 
World, as the severe castigator of his own countrymen, 
and as the friend of the Indian races. At the time of 
which I speak he had just completed and presented to 
Charles his celebrated treatise on the Destruction oftlie 
Indies. The accounts it contained of the cruelties of the 
colonists and the sufferings of the natives so astonished 
the emperor, that he at once appointed a council of 
priests and theologians, with the aid of Las Casas, to 
draw up a series of laws for the regulation of the 
colonies. 

As might have been expected, under the direction 
of so enthusiastic a friend of the Indians, they com- 
piled a code which gave serious offence to the colonists. 
Its main provisions were, — "To abolish slavery; that 
is, those who already possessed slaves might retain 
them, but at the death of the owner they were to 
revert to the crown. It was provided also, that 
slaves, in any event, should be forfeited by those 
who had ill-used them, by all public functionaries, by 
ecclesiastics and religious corporations, and by all who 
had taken a part in the feuds of Almagro and Pizarro. 
It was also ordered that the natives should be moder- 
ately taxed; that they should not be compelled to 
labour when they did not choose; further, that as the 
reioaHimientos of land were often excessive, they should 
in such cases be reduced; and that where proprietors 
had been guilty of a notorious abuse of their slaves, 
their estates should be forfeited altogether. Lastly, 



THREATS OF EEBELLION. 473 

Blasco Nunez Yela, a cavalier of higli rank, was 
appointed viceroy, with sovereign authority over Peru. 
He was to be attended by a royal audience ; that is, 
four judges with great powers of jurisdiction, both 
criminal and civil, who, besides a court of justice, were 
fco constitute a sort of council to advise with and aid 
the chief of the state. 

ISTow, as throughout Peru there was scarcely a man 
to be found who had not either ill-treated his slaves, 
received too large a repartiTniento, or been engaged 
in the wars of the Pizarros and Almagros, there were 
few who, upon receiving intelligence of the new law, 
did not feel themselves to be upon the brink of ruin. 
A tumult ensued. Men met in the public squares; 
and as the laws were made known they were greeted 
with universal groans and hisses. " Is this," they 
cried, "the fruits of all our toil? Is it for this we 
have poured out our blood like water ? Now that we 
are broken down by hardships and sufferings, to be 
left at the end of our campaign as poor as at the 
beginning ! Is this the way government rewards our 
ser\ices in winning for it an empire. The government 
has done little to aid us in making the conquest, 
and for what we possess we may thank our own good 
swords; and with these same swords we know how to 
defend it." 

Alarmed at the increasing discontent and open 
threats of rebellion, the governor, De Castro, very 
wisely counselled the colonists to name deputies to 
lay a petition before the emperor, stating the imprac- 
ticability of the new laws being carried out, and pray- 
ing for their repeal. Further, he begged them to 



474 THE STORY OF THE RISE OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

await patiently the arrival of tlie new viceroy, wHo, 
in all probability, might be prevailed upon to suspend 
the ordinances until farther instructions could be re- 
ceived from Spain. 

The colonists were silenced, and the rising storm 
would have been allayed had Blasco Vela been as wise 
a governor as De Castro. But upon reaching the port 
of Nombre de Dios, and finding a vessel laden with 
silver from the Peruvian mines, ready to sail for Spain, 
he seized it as containing the proceeds of slave labour. 
After this imprudent act he crossed to Panama, and 
set free 300 Indians who had been brought by their 
owners from Peru. Even his four judges remonstrated 
with him for such hasty proceedings ; but the viceroy 
replied that " He had come, not to tamper with the 
laws, nor to discuss their merits, but to execute them." 
Further, to show his determination of acting up to the 
strict letter of the new laws, upon his going from 
Tumbez to Lima, he caused his baggage to be conveyed 
by mules where it was practicable; but where abso- 
lutely necessary to make use of Indians, he paid them 
fairly for their services. 

The reports of the sayings and doings of the new 
viceroy ran like wildfire through the colonies, spreading 
consternation everywhere. Meetings were called, and 
discussions held in the different cities, as to the jieces- 
sity of an armed resistance, and although Yela entered 
Lima without opposition, it was only through the 
influence of the prudent and loyal De Castro, who, 
hastening from Cuzco to the former city, endeavoured 
to prevail upon its inhabitants to receive the viceroy 
with suitable honours, and to trust to him for 



GONZALO HEADS THE REBELLION. 475 

postponing tlie putting in force the new laws till 
their petition could be laid before the emperor. 
For a time they acquiesced, but finding Yela obsti- 
nately bent upon carrying out the odious ordinances, 
they began to look about for a leader, under whose 
banner they might maintain their old privileges and 
properties. Their choice fell upon Gonzalo Pizarro. 
Speedily that chief received letters and addresses from 
all quarters, requesting him to take upon himself the 
office of their protector. Gonzalo could scarcely refuse, 
for not only did he keenly feel that his family had been 
mainly instrumental in giving Peru to the crown of 
Spain, that he was deeply wronged by the imprison- 
ment of his brother Hernando, but he would also be 
the chief victim of the new laws, for he possessed im- 
mense estates, large numbers of slaves, and had been 
greatly implicated in the civil war with the elder 
Almagro. Therefore, accepting the office, he assembled 
some twenty cavaliers whom he could trust, and taking 
a large amount of silver, drawn from the mines, he 
marched to Cuzco. As he approached the city, the 
people came out to welcome him, making the air ring 
with their shouts, as they hailed him Procurator- 
General of Peru. Soon after, the municipality formally 
confirmed him in this title, and begged him to head a 
deputation to Lima in order to state their grievances 
to the viceroy. Gonzalo had little faith in such a 
proceeding, without the leader of the deputation should 
be supported by an armed force; he therefore demanded 
permission to raise an army, with the further title of 
Captain- General — a rank to which he considered him- 
self entitled as his brother Francisco's heir. The 



476 THE STORY OF THE RISE OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

municipality had no desire to embroil themselves with 
the crown, and perhaps fearing the consequences of 
placing so much power in the hands of a PizaiTO, 
hesitated to comply. Gonzalo, however, insisted, 
assuring them, that although his intentions were pacific, 
it would be useless to approach so fiery tempered a 
man as the viceroy, unless protected by an armed force; 
but his chief object, he said, in desiring troops, was to 
rid the country of their old enemy, Manco Capac, who 
was at that very time encamped in the neighbouring 
mountains, ready to fall upon the city. Then, as he 
declared, if refused, he would resign his office of 
procurator-general, the municipality bestowed upon 
the ambitious chief the military command he desired, 
and as the latter formally accepted it, he modestly 
declared it was purely from regard to the interests of 
the King of the Indies and the Spaniards of Peru. 

Gonzalo having thus assumed his brother's mantle, 
lost no time in raising an army, appointing as his 
second in command Francisco de Carbajal, a man 
whose whole life had been spent in battle, and who, 
although seventy-five years of age, still possessed the 
energy and courage of a man in the prime of life. 

By the time Gonzalo had mustered and equipped a 
force of 400 picked men, the news arrived of the 
sudden death of Manco Capac, against whom they had 
been chiefly raised. The story of the Inca's death is as 
follows : — 

Some of the murderers of the Marquis had fled to 
the court of Manco, who gladly protected the men 
who had slain his great enemy. One of these, Gomez 
Perez, the same who was sent back by Rada for passing 



MURDER OF MANCO CAPAC. 477 

round, instead of tlirougli, the pool of water, -when they 
were going to kill Pizarro, one day, when playing at 
bowls with the Inca, became so insolent that Mauco 
gave him a blow, saying, " Go home, and consider to 
whom you are speaking," whereupon the Spaniard 
hurled a bowl with such force at the Indian prince, 
that he fell dead upon the spot. But the Inca died 
not unavenged; for his people, turning upon Gomez 
and the other Spaniards present, slew them all. 

The death of the Inca, for whose overthrow Gonzalo's 
force had been ostensibly raised, removing the only 
excuse that could be offered to the viceroy for its exist- 
ence, caused so many of the chief men to desert to 
Blasco Nunez, that Pizarro, disgusted and disheartened, 
proposed to return at once to his estates at Charcas. 
Carbajal, however, wisely pointing out that they had 
gone too far to recede, and that their only safety was 
to advance, Gonzalo, with the remnant of his army, 
marched on towards Chupas, where the battle had been 
fought between Yaco de Castro and the younger 
Almagro. He was rewarded for his perseverance, for 
he was soon joined by one Puelles, at the head of a 
body of horse, with which he had deserted from Blasco 
Nunez, and others, till he foimd his force larger than 
when he left Cuzco. 

While Gonzalo was marching upon Lima, the vice- 
roy, by his imprudence, harshness, and cruelty, was 
smoothing the way for his enemies' recejption. Jealous 
of the estimation in which Vaca de Castro was held by 
the cavaliers throughout Peru, he caused that governor 
to be seized and confined on board a vessel lying in the 
harbour. Also suspecting a certain cavalier named 



478 THE STORY OF THE RISE OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

Suarez de Carbajal of holding communication with the 
malcontents, he ordered him to come to his palace at 
night. Suarez obeyed, and the viceroy at once accused 
him of treason. The charge was denied in such haughty 
terms by Suarez, that Blasco Nunez struck him with 
his dagger, and the attendants taking this as a signal, 
at once despatched him with their swords. The body 
of the unfortunate man was secretly buried; but the 
crime soon became known, and from that hour the 
viceroy was held in universal abhorrence. Alarmed at 
the approach of Gonzalo, and unable to trust his own 
troops, he proposed to abandon Lima, taking with 
them stores and provisions, and withdraw to Truxillo, 
laying waste the country as they proceeded, so that 
Pizarro upon arriving in the city, being without sup- 
plies for his army, would be unable to pursue them. 
But to this his own council, the royal audience, 
objected, nay, even appealed to the people to aid them 
in opposing the governor. At such a call, from such a 
quarter, the citizens rose in arms, stormed the palace, 
and seizing the viceroy, carried him before the judges, 
who very wisely at once put him on board a vessel, 
and sent him back to Spain, under the care of Alvarez, 
one of their own body. 

The royal audience having rid the country of the 
cause of all the trouble, sent envoys to Gonzalo Pizarro, 
informing him of all that had happened, adding, that 
as the ordinances were now suspended, and a new 
government installed, he would best show his loyalty 
to the crown by disbanding his army and retiring 
to his estates. 

Although there can be no doubt that from the out- 



carbajal's advice to gonzalo. 479 

set Gonzalo had intended to make liimself lord of Peru, 
he liad raised an army upon two pretences — first^ to 
crush the Inca; secondly, to terrify Blasco ISTuiiez into 
suspending the obnoxious code. Thus, it is scarcely 
to be wondered at that this message, coming as it did 
from officers holding their authority immediately from 
the crown, should have made the ambitious chief hesi- 
tate. Perceiving his general's dilemma, Carbajal, who 
in word and deed ever went straight and unfalteringly 
to the point, exclaimed — 

" Never show faint heart, when you are so near 
your goal. Success has followed every step of your path ; 
you have now only to stretch forth your hand and 
seize the government; everything else will follow." 

This was bold advice ; but acting upon it, Gonzalo 
sent the envoy back with the answer, that "the jDeople 
had called Gonzalo Pizarro to the government of the 
country, and if the audience did not at once invest him 
with it, the city should be delivered up to pillage." 

The bewildered j udges took time to consider their 
reply. In the meantime, Carbajal, to hasten their 
deliberations, entered the city at night and dragged 
from their beds a number of cavaliers, who, unfortun- 
ately for themselves, were some of the men who had 
deserted from Pizarro. Carbajal caused three of his 
prisoners, persons of rank and wealth, to be carried into 
the suburbs and hanged upon the branches of a tree. To 
stop these cruelties, the judges, without further delay, 
invited Gonzalo to enter the city. Accordingly, upon 
the 28th of October, 1544, he made a triumphal entry 
into Lima, in the midst of great rejoicings, and with 

great state. 

2i ■ 



480 THE STORY OF THE RISE OF GONZALO PIZAREO. 

The most merciful, or ratlier the least cruel of the 
conquerors, Gonzalo's first act was to pardon all those 
who had deserted from him to the viceroy. His next 
steps were to fill up the difierent offices, and the 
governorships of the chief cities, with his own par- 
tizaus, build a fleet at Arequipa, and strengthen his 
army and defences; and the people of Peru looked for- 
ward to that peace and prosperity which can only be 
obtained under a strong government. In the midst, 
however, of these occupations, Gonzalo received intelli- 
gence that Blasco Nunez had again landed at Tumbez, 
at the head of a large force, the nucleus of which had 
been found at Panama, and had planted his standard 
at the town of San Miguel. Fearing that to await an 
attack would be but to give the viceroy the power of 
materially recruiting his forces upon the march, Pizarro, 
leaving Lima strongly garrisoned, under the command 
of a faithful officer, set out for San Miguel at the head 
of 600 men. When Gonzalo reached that port he 
found the enemy had retreated. Indeed, so unpopular 
was the viceroy, and so terrible the name of Pizarro, 
that those who did not desert from him insisted upon 
his retiring into the upper country, to await some 
expected reinforcements under a captain named Ben al- 
cazar. Pizarro pursued them ; but the royalists (so the 
army of the viceroy was called) succeeded in gaining 
the mountains. The pursuit continued for many 
months, during which time the sufferings of both 
armies are said to have equalled those of the party 
which Gonzalo led to the Amazon; but worse, inas- 
much that an incessant guerilla warfare was kept up 
by small bodies of stragglers. By a series of manoeu- 



GONZALO MASTER OF PERU. 481 

vres, Pizarro ultimately succeeded in engaging the 
royalists near Quito. The battle, which was not of long 
duration, was terminated by the death of the viceroy, 
who was slain by the brother of that Carbajal whom 
he assassinated in his own palace. 

"Gonzalo Pizarro," says Prescott, "was now undis- 
puted master of Peru. From Quito to the northern 
confines of Chili, the whole country acknowledged his 
authority. His fleet rode triumphant on the Pacific, and 
gave him the command of every city on its borders. His 
admiral, Hinagosa, a discreet and gallant officer, had 
secured him Panama, and marching across the isthmus, 
had since obtained for him the possession of Nombre de 
Dios, the principal key of communication with Europe, 
His forces were on an excellent footing, including the 
flower of the warriors who had fought under his 
brother, and who now eagerly rallied under the name 
of Pizarro; while the tide of wealth that flowed in from 
the mines of Potosi supplied him with the resources of 
an European monarch. 

" The new governor now began to assume a state 
corresponding with his full-blown fortunes. He was 
attended by a body-guard of eighty soldiers ; he dined 
always in public, and usually with not less than a hun- 
dred guests at table. He even afiected, it was said, the 
more decided etiquette of royalty, giving his hand to be 
kissed, and allowing no one, of whatever rank, to be 
seated in his presence." 

But this statement is denied by Garcilasso De Vega, 
who, having known Gonzalo in the height of his pros- 
perity, assures us that the governor continued to show 
the same frank, soldier-like bearing as before his eleva- 



482 THE STORY OF THE RISE OF GONZALO PIZAERO. 

tion, mingling in familiar terms with his comrades, and 
displaying those qualities which had hitherto endeared 
him to the people. 

Having thus, as he thought, consolidated his power, 
he began to prepare a mission to Spain, to solicit an 
amnesty for the past, with a full confirmation of his 
authority as successor to his brother in the govern- 
ment of Peru. His friend Carbajal was averse to this 
course. "Renounce your allegiance to the crown of 
Spain," said he. " In fact, you have already done so ; 
for, have you not been in arms against a viceroy, driven 
him from the country, beaten and slain him in battle ? 
What favour, or even mercy, can you expect from the 
crown 1 You have gone too far either to halt or recede. 
You must go boldly on; proclaim yourself king; the 
troops, the people, will support you." He then con- 
cluded by advising him to marry the female represen- 
tative of the Incas, that the two races might henceforth 
rejDose in quiet under a common sceptre. In a political 
point of view this bold advice was the best that could 
have been ofiered, for so high had Gonzalo climbed, 
that absolute safety was alone to be found by raising 
himself to the summit of power. But either from fear 
of the consequences, or that chivalrous loyalty inherent 
in his countrymen at that time, he, who had dared, 
defied, and defeated the ministers, shrunk at the idea 
of lifting his sword against the sovereign. 



483 



CKAPTER XIII. 



THE STOHY OF THE FALL OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

Great was the dismay of the rulers of Spain -when 
the news arrived that their ordinances had caused 
the deposition of the viceroy, and inaugurated a re- 
volution which might end in the loss of golden Peru. 
The emperor summoned a council of prelates, jurists, 
and generals of experience, to deliberate on the means 
to be pursued for the restoration of order in the 
colonies. All regarded Pizarro as the instigator and 
leader of an audacious rebellion, and as one who should 
suffer the doom of a traitor. But the distance of the 
country from Spain, its climate, the popularity and 
power of Gonzalo, besides some qualms of conscience 
which told the rulers in Spain that their own laws had 
caused the mischief, made them, upon reflection, deter- 
mine to try the effect of a conciliatory policy. A free 
pardon was to be offered to those who would submit; 
such persuasive arguments to be used, and such conces- 
sions made, as would convince the refractory colonists 
that it was no less their interest than their duty to 
return to their allegiance. But to carry out this mis- 
sion an agent possessing extraordinary power was 
required ; for all the miseries and bloodshed that had 
taken place in the new world colonies had chiefly been 



484 THE STORY OF THE FALL OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

caused by the incompetency of the governors sent there 
by the home authorities. However, this time perhaps 
the only man in Spain fitted for the delicate office was 
chosen. 

This was an ecclesiastic named Pedro de la Gasca, a 
man of birth so noble and ancient that he is said to 
have been descended from Casca, one of the assassins 
of Julius Caesar. He had already given proofs of his 
great abilities both in military and state affiiirs. ' Gasca 
accepted the mission, but demanded despotic powers. 
For instance, " That he should have all the men, 
monies, ships, and horses, he might require; secondly, 
that he should have at his disposal all the vacant 
repartimientos, and all the offices of government in 
Peru; thirdly, that he might send out expeditions 
into unconquered countries; fourthly, that he should 
have the power of granting full pardons when and to 
whom he chose; fifthly, that he might send home the 
viceroy if he thought fit;* lastly, that he might 
expend any portion of the royal estate for the pacifica- 
tion of the country. 

Upon no other terms would Gasca accept the office ; 
but for himself, he said, " I ask neither salary nor 
compensation of any kind ; I covet no display of state 
or military array; with my stole and breviary I trust 
to do the work that is committed to me. Infirm as I 
am in body, the repose of my own home would have 
been more grateful to me than this dangerous mission, 
but I will not shrink from it at the bidding of my 
sovereign ; and if, as is very probable, I may not be 
permitted again to see my native land, I shall at 
• At that time the death of Blasco Nunez was not known in Spain. 



PEDRO DE LA GASCA. 485 

least be cheered by the consciousness of having done my 
best to serve its interests." 

These powers being granted under the sign manual 
of the emperor, w^ho also gave him an autograph letter 
to Gonzalo Pizarro, Gasca, with the simple title of 
President of the Audience, and but few attendants, 
set sail from Spain in May, 1546. In July he reached 
Santa Martha, where he first heard of the death of the 
viceroy and the pretensions of Gonzalo. This was 
alarming news; for he reflected that the rebels, after so 
atrocious an act, would despair of grace, and become 
reckless of consequences. He therefore hastened to make 
it known that the date of his commission being subse- 
quent to the death of Blasco Nunez, he was authorized 
to grant an amnesty for all offences hitherto committed 
against the crown. As every port was in the hands of 
Pizarro's officers, Gasca was for some time embarassed 
as to where he should enter Peru. . At length, how- 
ever, he decided upon crossing to Nombre de Dios. 
This place was commanded by Hernan Mexia, a lieu- 
tenant of Pizarro's. This officer Gasca soon won over 
to the royal cause by promises of pardon for the past, 
and promotion in the future. This important step 
gained, the president sent Mexia and Alonzo de 
Alvarado to prepare Hinojosa, the Governor of Pa- 
nama, for his coming. They were commissioned to 
explain to him the purport for which he had come to 
the colonies, the high powers he held from the crown, 
and to endeavour to win him over to their cause. 
This would be a great point gained indeed, for the 
Governor of Panama held command of no less than 
two and twenty of Pizarro's vessels then in the har- 



486 THE STORY OF THE FALL OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

bour. Gasca soon followed his emissaries, and was 
received by the governor with all the respect and 
honour due to one holding so high a commission from 
the emperor. The courteous and winning manners of 
Gasca, so different from those of Blasco Nunez or 
even Yaca de Castro, his persuasive arguments, and 
the exhibition of the commission under which he acted, 
had the effect of winning over some of the principal 
cavaliers of Panama and the squadron in the harbour; 
but Hinojosa, being a devoted friend of Pizarro, and, 
moreover, eliciting from the president that he had no 
intention of confirming Gonzalo in the governorship of 
Peru, immediately wrote to Pizarro, acquainting him 
with Gasca's arrival and the object of his mission. 
But by this friendly act he unwittingly aided the 
president's schemes; for the cunning priest entrusted 
a Dominican friar, who had taken his passage on 
board the ship for one of the towns on the coast, 
with a number of manifestoes setting forth the object 
of his visit, and proclaiming the abolition of the 
hateful ordinances, with a free pardon to all who 
returned to their allegiance. These the Dominican 
engaged to distribute himself among the principal 
cities of the colonies. Gasca also gave him letters to 
the prelates and corporations of the different cities, 
claiming their co-operation in his plans. Thus secretly 
did the president undermine the power of Pizarro, 
whose adherents, as we shall soon see, finding that the 
hateful laws against which they had taken up arms 
were abolished, and their own pardons and properties 
secured, left the leader who had helped them to this 
end, to return to their duty. 



gasca's overtukes to gonzalo. 4S7 

In tlie meanwliile Gasca persuaded Hinojosa to 
fiirnisli him with, the means of communicating with 
Gonzalo himself, and a ship was despatched to Lima 
bearing two important letters to Pizarro, one from the 
emperor and the other from the president. The rojal 
letter was couched in the most condescending and 
conciliating terms. Far from charging Gonzalo with 
rebellion, it affected even to regard his conduct as the 
necessary result of the viceroy's rashness; but instead 
of intimating any intent of confirming him in his govern- 
ment, it simply referred him to Gasca, as one who 
would acquaint him with the royal pleasure, and with 
whom he was to co-operate in restoring tranquillity to 
the country. The president's letter was couched in simi- 
lar terms, and concluded by begging him, on his honour 
as a knight and his duty as a royal vassal, to respect 
the royal authority, and not rashly provoke a contest 
which would not only be treasonous, but must prove 
to the world that his conduct hitherto had been dic- 
tated, not by patriotism, but by selfish ambition. At 
the same time he sent another letter to Cepeda, one of 
the four judges of the royal audience, who, Gasca 
knew, had great influence over Pizarro. When 
Gonzalo learned from Hinojosa of the arrival of the 
president, and the high powers with which he 
was entrusted, he determined at once to send envoys 
to the emperor, to explain and vindicate Iiis past 
proceedings, and to request the royal confirma- 
tion of his authority. He also resolved to prevent, if 
possible, the coming of Gasca to Peru. Thus he 
charged Lorenzo ,de Aldana, the head of the mission, 
to call en route at Panama, and offer Gasca a bribe of 



488 THE STORY OF THE FALL OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

fifty thousand pesos de oro if he would return to Castile. 
It is even said that, in the event of the president's 
refusal, Aldana was to seek an opportunity of putting 
him to death. But the soldier Pizarro was no match 
in cunning for the ecclesiastic Gasca. Indeed, the 
latter seems to have borne a strong resemblance to 
Cortes in his extraordinary jDower of converting foes 
into friends; for at the very first interview between the 
president and Lorenzo de Aldana, the latter resigned 
his mission to Spain, burned his despatches, joined the 
royalists, and that, too, with such enthusiasm, that he 
wrote to Gonzalo, telling him what he had done, and 
earnestly requesting him to follow his example. The 
next of Pizarro's officers won over by the wily president 
was Hinojosa, who, ia N'ovember, 1546, with his 
captains who commanded the vessels in the harbour, 
resigned their commissions into the hands of Gasca, 
and took the oath of allegiance to the emperor. With 
great wisdom the president then restored to the captains 
their several commissions, and the royal standard being 
unfurled on board the fleet, proclaimed that the main 
stay of Pizarro's power had passed from him for ever. 

While Gasca was thus plotting and scheming at 
Panama, the proclamations and letters he had sent by 
the Dominican friar were doing their work, and the 
power of Pizarro was gradually falling to pieces. Still 
he might have saved himself from death and ruin had 
he complied with the terms of the letters writen to him 
by the emperor and the president. His counsellors at 
the reading of these documents were Carbajal and Ce- 
peda. Carbajal, seeing the danger of his commander's 
position, advised the accejDtance of the royal grace on 



GONZALO'S ITLA.Il OF TREACHERY. 489 

the terms proposed, adding that "he would pave the 
way for the bearer of them into the capital with ingots 
of gold and silver." 

This was prudent advice, and would have saved the 
life and fortune of Gonzalo. But Cepeda felt there 
could be no pardon for him; for although he had been 
especially sent to Peru as one of the judges of the royal 
audience, and as a counsellor of the Viceroy Blasco 
Nuiiez, he had, as we have seen, helped to depose and 
slay that official; thus he urged the rejection of Gasca's 
offer. "They will cost you your government," said he. 
" The smooth-tongued priest is not so simple a person 
as you take him to be. He is deep and politic; he 
knows well what promises to make; and once master 
of the country, he will know, too, how to keep them." 
This selfish counsel was after the ambitious Pizarro's 
own heart. He therefore refused the president's offer, 
and by so doing proclaimed himself in open rebellion 
against the crown. 

The close of the career of the last of the Pizarros in 
Peru is now soon told. Friends fell off, and enemies 
arose upon all sides. But, although touched to the heart 
by the desertion of those in whom he most confided, and 
stunned by the loss of his magnificent fleet, he re- 
membered he had now to struggle for life or death, 
infamy or empire, and at once set about preparing to 
meet the coming storm like a hero. 

Hearing that Lorenzo de Aldana was approaching 
Lima with a powerful armament, Gonzalo, to prevent 
Lis own men from deserting to the enemy, ordered all 
the vessels in the harbour to be burned or sacked ; and 
when the enemy's fleet came in sight, so much did 
Pizarro fear treachery, that he gave notice for every one 



490 THE STORY OF THE FALL OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

to quit the city, so tliat they could hold no communi- 
cation with the enemy. Then, with all his men-at-arms, 
he matched out and pitched his camp about a league's 
distance from the town, between it and the sea. 
A'ldana now opened up communications with Pizarro. 
The great object, however, on the part of the former, 
was for his envoys treacherously to distribute procla- 
mations among Pizarro's men, and so successfully was 
this carried out, that many of the principal officers 
deserted at once to Aldana, who had sent some small 
vessels to the shore ready to receive them. During 
these base proceedings an incident occurred which 
exhibits some of the good that was ia Pizarro's 
nature. 

De Laguna, a deserter, being recaptured and brought 
to Gonzalo, the latter sent him at once to Carbajal for 
execution, when a lady, cousin of the prisoner, and 
wife of another deserter, threw herself at the governor's 
feet, and with tears and entreaties prayed for his 
pardon. Pizarro relented, and at once sent his cap, 
with a medal in it, to stay the execution : it was but 
just in time, for the rope was round his neck. Such an 
effect did this act of generosity have upon one of the 
soldiers, that, kissing Gonzalo's cheek, he exclaimed — 

" O prince of the world ! may ill happen to him 
who shall deny thee, even unto death." So little 
weight, however, did this act of clemency have upon 
the minds of his troops, that if he had not at once 
broken up his camp and marched to Arequipa, he 
would not have retained fifty men. 

From Arequipa Pizarro determined to march to 
Chili, intending to remain there until the fickle people, 
tired of their new ruler, the president (who had recently 



GONZALO'S VICTOEY. 491 

landed in Peru), would welcome liim back. But the 
passes were occupied by Centeno, a royalist chief, who 
had sometime before seized upon the capital, Cuzco. 
To evade the troops of the latter chief was impossible; 
still, as he had been an old officer of Pizarro's, he could 
open a negotiation with him. He did so; but, failing 
to shake the other's loyalty, as a last and desperate 
resource, he determined, with only 500 men, to give 
him battle. The armies met upon the plains of 
Huarina ; but Pizarro, after a desperate encounter 
with a force more than twice the number of his own, 
and of which nearly 400 were slain, left the field a 
conqueror, and with so much astonishment at his suc- 
cess, that he was heard to say, as he rode over the field 
strewn with bodies, " Jesu, what a victory ! " 

This unexpected success over the royalists induced 
Pizarro to change his plans. Now, instead of flying 
for refuge into the wilds and fastnesses of Chili, he 
marched direct upon the capital. At this place, the 
peojjle, who in politics were everything in turn, but 
nothing long, gave him a triumphant reception; arches 
were thrown across the streets, cannons fired, and bells 
rung. This welcome, and the continued adulations of 
his followers, caused his ruin ; for, blind to his real posi- 
tion, he now lived in the midst of his officers in care- 
less luxury, and with as little concern for the future as 
if the crown of Peru had been fixed irrevocably upon 
his head. His triumph, however, was but short, for 
soon the news came that the president, at the head of a 
large, well-disciplined and officered army, had crossed 
the river Apurimac, and was marching upon the capital. 

Once awakened to the necessity for immediate 



492 THE STOEY OF THE FALL OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

action^ Gonzalo placed himself at the head of his troops, 
and marched to oppose the advance of Gasca, Both 
armies meeting in the valley of Xaquixaguana, the two 
leaders prepared for battle. They were well matched 
as far as equipments and prowess were concerned, and 
although the president's force was larger in numbers, 
they were fatigued by a long and tiresome march, and 
occuj)ied a position which gave the rebels the advan- 
tage. Had the loyalty of the men to their respective 
causes been equal, it is more than probable that the 
victory would have been upon the side of Pizarro. 
But the sun of that commander's prosperity was fast 
setting in blackest midnight treachery. The tongue, 
brain, and authority of the president, proved more 
potent than the steel mail or heroic courage of his 
enemy, who at every moment feared the desertion of 
his troops. Still, placing entire confidence in two of 
his officers, Carbajal and the judge Cepeda, Pizarro had 
little doubt of success. The former officer, notwith- 
standing his dislike to his general's jolan for the ensuing 
battle, fought in the ranks as a private cavalier, and 
remained true to his standard; but Cepeda, the judge, 
now beginning to see that he was allied to a failing 
cause, at the very onset passed over to the enemy, with 
the division of infantry under his command. The 
example of the traitor judge was immediately followed 
by others, and to such an extent that Pizarro, fearing 
to wait for an assault from the other side, gave the 
order to advance. The object was to stop farther deser- 
tion; but even then, before a single shot had been 
fired, a column of arquebusiers deserted to the enemy; 
moreover, a squadron of horse sent in pursuit of 



DEFEAT AND SUERENDER OF GONZALO. 493 

tliem, followed tlieir example. At these betrayals of 
their leader and themselves, the faithful troops became 
seized with a panic, and fled in every direction. Heart- 
broken at this desertion, Pizarro exclaimed, "Now, 
what remains for us?" 

" To fall on the enemy, and, since nothing else is 
left, die like Romans !" replied one of his officers. 

" Better to die like Christians," replied the chief, 
and turning his horse's head, he galloped off in the 
direction of the royal army. Meeting one of the presi- 
dent's officers, he delivered to him his sword, saying, 
" I am Gonzalo Pizarro, and I give myself up to the 
emperor." They then rode together to the spot where 
Gasca was sitting on horseback, surrounded by his 
captains. Most of the latter having served, and built 
their fortunes under Gonzalo, withdrew, ashamed to 
meet the gaze of the man they had so treacherously 
betrayed. 

As the fallen warrior approached the president, 
he made a respectful obeisance, which the latter 
only acknowledged by a cold salute, asking abruptly, 
" Why he had thrown the country into such confusion, 
raising the banner of revolt, killing the viceroy, usurp- 
ing the government, and obstinately refusing the 
offers of grace that had been made to him V To this 
Gonzalo answered, that the viceroy had brought his 
death upon himself by his own misconduct ; that as for 
his usurpation, as it was called, he had been freely 
elected by the people and the royal audience, adding, 
" Besides, it was my family who conquered the country, 
and as their representative I felt I had a right to the 
government." 



494 THE STORY OF THE FALL OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

'•' Your brother/' said Gasca^ " did indeed conquer 
tlie land, and for that the emperor raised him and you 
from the dust. He, however, lived and died a true 
and loyal subject, which but makes your ingratitude to 
your sovereign the more heinous." 

" It is true," he replied, '• that my brother sufficed to 
discover the land; but to conquer and keep it required 
the aid of all four brothers, and the rest of our friends 
and relations; as for the reward, my brother only 
received the title and name of Marquis. His majesty 
did not raise us from the dust, for since the Goths 
entered Spain the Pizarros have been cavaliers and 
hidalgos of known descent." Gonzalo would have 
continued, but the president, angered by his speech, 
exclaimed, "Take him away from here; take him 
away; for he is as great a tyrant to-day as he was 
yesterday," and the prisoner was placed in close confine- 
ment under the charge of Centeno, who, forgetting his 
defeat at Huarina, generously solicited the office, for the 
honourable purpose of ministering to the comfort of 
the captive, whom he caused to be treated with the 
deference due to his rank. 

When the gallant old Carbajal saw squadron after 
squadron of the troops passing over to the enemy, he 
coolly hummed the words of a favourite old ballad — 

" The -u'inds are blowing the hau's off my head, mother." 
Then, seeing they had nearly all deserted, he put 
spurs to his horse, and endeavoured to escape; he was, 
however, speedily taken by a party of the royalists, 
who, remembering his many cruelties, tortured him on 
the way, by thrusting lighted matches between the 
armour and his breast. Centeno observing it, darted 



GONZALO AND CARBAJAL SENTENCED. 495 

in among the soldiers, dealing blows about witli the 
flat of liis sword. Carbajal, on seeing tliis, respectfully 
demanded to wliom lie was indebted for this courteous 
protection ? " Do you not know me '? I am Diego 
Centeno," was the reply. 

" I crave your pardon," replied Carbajal, sarcastically 
alluding to several battles in which he had defeated 
him, " It is so long since I have seen anything but 
your back that I had forgotten your face !" 

When brought before the president the old soldier 
preserved a sullen and haughty silence; nay, even when 
the Bishop of Cuzco, who was standing by, reproached 
him with having killed his brother, and even struck 
him in the face, he offered no resistance either by 
tongue or action. 

Gasca having thus suppressed a mighty insurrection, 
with but little bloodshed, caused the prisoners to be 
brought to trial, and condemned to death. Pizarro 
was to be beheaded, but Carbajal, the most aged, the 
wittiest, the bravest, but withal, the cruellest Spaniard 
in the New World, was sentenced to be drawn and 
quartered; for, as he had shown no mercy to others, the 
president would show none to him. 

Among the anecdotes related of this remarkable man 
are the following : — When his doom was communicated 
to him, he said, "They can but kill me." When 
people came to gaze upon the fierce soldier who had 
made his name so terrible throughout the land, and 
to upbraid him, he would converse with them freely 
and even humorously. One cavalier of rank, whose 
life he had spared when in his power, coming to see 
him, expressed his great desire to serve him. " What 
2 K 



496 THE STORY OF THE FALL OF GONZALO PIZARRO. 

service can you do me ?" said the prisoner. " Can you 
save my life ? If you cannot do tliat you can do no- 
thing. If I spared your life, as you say, it was prob- 
ably because I did not think it worth while to take 
it." When urged to see a priest, and unburden his 
conscience before his death, he replied, "I have no- 
thing that lies heavy on my conscience, unless it be, 
indeed, the debt of half a real to a shopkeeper in 
Seville, which I forgot to pay before leaving the 
country !" Again, when on his way to execution, 
the priest besought him earnestly to give some token 
of penitence, if it were only by repeating the Pater- 
noster and Ave Maria. To get rid of the father's 
importunities, the wicked old man coolly repeated 
the words — "Paternoster," "Ave Maria!" Thus, 
with a scoff upon his lips, at eighty-four years of age, 
died Francisco de Carbajal. His character is thus 
admirably summed up by Mr. Arthur Helps : " Like 
many others, he was carried along by the stream of 
faction. Had he remained in Spain, and served under 
a settled government, he might have been the founder 
of a family, and have been justly pre-eminent in great 
European wars. Charles V. would have known how 
to estimate, employ, and reward such a man, if he had 
once had him near his person. It is probable that 
Carbajal's cruelty was not purposeless; but that, in 
every instance, he thought that, upon military prin- 
ciples, the execution he ordered was necessary. Even 
in that atrocious case where he hanged the lady in 
Cuzco, he had warned her twice before ; and doubtlessly 
he felt that, in the critical circumstances in which his 
party was placed, there was need for swift and extreme 



LAST HOURS OF GONZALO. 497 

punishment, — when a principal personage, in an im- 
portant town, persevered in uttering the boldest and 
most injurious sayings against their chief and com- 
mander, Pizarro. He knew that Pizarro would be 
sure to be merciful, as was his wont, and therefore 
took the execution upon himself. Some explanation 
of this kind is to be looked for, when a wise and witty 
man, who has nearly reached the end of life, continues 
to stain his soul by acts of cruelty; and it must be 
owned that, in times of faction, cruelty has, by better 
men than Carbajal, been often supposed to be the only 
sound policy." 

The last hours of Gonzalo were passed, in company 
with the priest, in the performance of religious offices. 
"When brought forth to execution he wore a superb 
cloak of yellow velvet, embroidered with gold, and a 
cap of the same materials. He was escorted by a great 
number of ecclesiastics and friars, holding the crucifix 
before his eyes, while he carried in his own hand an 
image of the Virgin. 

Upon the scaffi)ld he thus addressed the soldiers 
gathered around, — " There are many among you who 
have grown rich on my brothers' bounty and my own ; 
yet, of all my riches, nothing remains to me but the 
garments I now wear; and even these are not mine, 
but the property of the executioner. I am without 
means, therefore, to purchase a mass for the welfare of 
my soul ; and I implore you, by the remembrance of 
past benefits, to extend this charity to me when I am 
gone, that it may be well with you in the hour of 
death." A profound silence reigned around, broken 
only by sighs and gi'oans. The request, however, was 



498 THE STOEY OF THE FALL OF GONZALO PIZAHRO. 

faithfully responded to; for, after his death, masses 
were said in most of the towns and cities for the wel- 
fare of the soul of the departed chieftain. 

Then, kneeling before a crucitix placed on a table, 
Gonzalo remained some minutes absorbed in prayer. 
When the executioner came to bandage his eyes, he 
said, " It is not necessary, put it down ;" and when he 
saw the axe, he said, " Do your office well, brother 
Juan." The executioner promised, and in another 
minute Gonzalo Pizarro had ceased to exist. The head 
was taken to Lima, where it was set in a cage, and 
then fixed on a gibbet by the side of Carbajal's, with a 
label bearing the words, " This is the head of the 
traitor, Gonzalo Pizarro, who rebelled in Peru against 
his sovereign, and battled in the cause of tyranny and 
treason against the royal standard in the valley of 
Xaquixaguana." The body was buried in the convent 
of our Lady of Mercy, in Cuzco, by the side of the 
remains of Almagro. The character of Gonzalo, who 
died in the prime of life, at forty-five years of age, has 
been thus summed up : — 

He had a brilliant exterior; excelled in all martial 
exercises ; rode well, fenced well, managed his lance to 
perfection, was a first-rate marksman with the arque. 
buse, and added the accomplishment of being an excel- 
lent draughtsman. He was bold and chivalrous, even 
to temerity ; courted adventure, and was always in the 
front of danger. He was a knight-errant in short, in 
the most extravagant sense of the term ; and, " mounted 
on his favourite charger," says one who had often seen 
him, " made no more account of a squadron of Indians 
than of a swarm of flies." In the violent death of the 



RETRIBUTION". 499 

Almagros and their captains, three of the brothers of 
Pizarro, and the twenty years incarceration of Hernando? 
a retributive justice seemed to avenge the wrongs of 
the Peruvians. It is worthy of note likewise, that 
most of the captains who betrayed Gonzalo Pizarro 
came to their end either by the hand of the assassin, 
upon the bloody field, or in prison, within a few short 
years of the death of th.eir brilliant but unfortunate 



BELL AND BAIN, PRINTERS, GLASGOW. 



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